Nasser Abdullah was born in September 1984 – the same month and year that the first issue of Al Tashkeel was compiled by a group of budding artists in Sharjah's newly formed Emirates Fine Arts Society.
The magazine, which was handwritten, photocopied and only a few pages long, was off to a shaky start. It grew in size over the years and was eventually printed in larger numbers but it never really gained traction, with only 21 issues being produced over the next three decades.
Abdullah, who started to practise art in 1998 and also studied media at university, saw huge potential in the publication. When he joined the EFAS board of directors in 2004, he had his mind set on breathing new life into the magazine. It wasn’t until last year, when he was elected as the society’s chairman, that he finally managed to achieve that goal.
He approached the Sharjah Art Foundation and its president and founder, Sheikha Hoor Al Qasimi, agreed to fund the magazine’s relaunch. In July, Issue 22 of the magazine was published with a brand new look and feel as well as, importantly, dual translation of all articles in Arabic and English.
“This magazine is a really valuable resource for all sectors of the artistic society,” says Abdullah. “In my opinion, it will really give a push to this society because it is not just a catalogue that covers exhibitions but also essays and thought pieces surrounding topics of art locally as well as global movements.”
Originally, the magazine struggled due to issues of funding and the lack of art writers in the UAE, says Abdullah. Those writers also had very limited access to resources back in the 1980s and had to rely on the mere handful of artists who had left to study in Europe and later returned with a knowledge of English and access to art books.
“In the end, the magazine became focused on translating pieces from art books into Arabic by artists such as Hassan Sharif and Abdul Raheem Salem who had travelled abroad to study art,” says Abdullah. “It was developed to help other artists access this knowledge.” The new issue, which has a charcoal drawing by Emirati artist Moosa Al Halyan on the front cover, contains weighty articles such as an introduction to performance art in the Gulf, the history of conceptual art and the relationship between art and science. It also contains profiles on the Sharjah Art Museum and the Sharjah Biennial as well as a featured section on art spaces and practices in Latin America.
“We tried our best to combine and cooperate with writers from the country as well as those internationally,” says Abdullah. “The idea was not to only target artists but also all the people living here in the UAE.”
Currently, the magazine is a completely non-commercial venture. It contains no advertising, is free of charge and is distributed to galleries, institutions, art colleges and key figures in the art industry.
“This is something we plan to change in the future,” says Abdullah. “We have the potential to be self-sufficient and commercially viable but at the moment we are focusing on getting the word out there about the relaunch, on systemising the magazine and ensuring that we get a good quality publication out on time every quarter.”
Abdullah, who works in media section for Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities department in the Dubai government, is also assembling a team to work on the magazine’s social media platforms and the website, hoping to draw new audiences and to attract the younger sectors of society to get involved.
He says that it is part of the key mission of EFAS to continue to engage with the next generation.
“EFAS is the oldest art institution in the GCC and I have personally benefited a lot from them over the years,” he says. “Therefore, it is really important for me to support and expose all our artists and also to provide something for all the people who are interested in the arts in the UAE.”
• The next issue of Al Tashkeel is out this month
aseaman@thenational.ae
