Melissa Gronlund
Melissa Gronlund
Art Correspondent


The painting Abstract Composition Around the Name Dorival by Iraqi artist Jamil Hamoudi, who studied in Paris, forms part of the exhibition. Photo: Pompidou
How Arab is Paris? Art history might have the answer

Museum of Modern Art show traces the profound impact of artists from French colonies on the capital

July 10, 2024, 3:40 AM
May Muzaffar's Story of Water and Fire has recently been translated into English. Photo: May Muzaffar Archive Collection
The memoir peeling back five decades of Iraqi cultural history

A year on from the release of her lifetime-in-the-making memoir, Story of Water and Fire, The National looks back at the poet and artist's life and art

June 23, 2024, 3:03 AM
Gavin Jantjes's Freedom Hunters (1977). His career was born out of desperation to make the public aware of the realities of apartheid. Photo: Ann Purkis
Anti-apartheid creative shares his 50 years of activism and art

Retrospective by South African creative Gavin Jantjes follows his five decades of documenting history on a canvas

June 20, 2024, 3:02 AM
A detail of Nil Yalter's triptych Nesrin, 1982, which looks at the serpent – a figure found in many religions and beliefs. Photo: Nil Yalter
Nil Yalter on her 60 years of fighting for women in art world

Her latest exhibition at London's Ab-Anbar gallery explores the connection between sound and art

June 10, 2024, 3:05 AM
An undated archival photo showing Hamid Zenati wearing one of his designs – in front of another. Photo: Hamid Zenati Estate
The compulsive, creative energy of Hamid Zenati

Late Algerian artist's manifold works are being showcased at a new UK exhibition at Nottingham Contemporary

June 05, 2024, 3:08 AM
Abdel Hadi El Gazzar's daughter, Tayseer, right, writes of her father's kindness. El Gazzar is pictured with his daughters in Cairo in the 1960s. Photo: Khaf Publishers
New book reveals who the modernist Arab artists really were

Dubai writer sheds light on heyday of Arab modernism by interviewing family members

May 20, 2024, 3:04 AM
An image from Maen Hammad's project, Landing, which was presented at Slidefest Palestine at the University of Greenwich. Courtesy the artist
Photographers struggling to expose reality of life in Gaza

Media access and misrepresentation problems are proving to be ‘extremely frustrating’

May 13, 2024, 3:04 AM
Sukaina Kubba grew up in Abu Dhabi before moving to Toronto for university, and later teaching for years at the prestigious Glasgow School of Art. Photo: Niloofar Taghipour
Unravelled: How rug making went from Middle East to Scotland

Transport and transformation are themes of display now on show in Scotland

May 03, 2024, 3:04 AM
Members of the Aravani Art Project, known for the murals they paint across Bangalore, created 'Diaspora' at the Venice Biennale. Photo: Andrea Avezzu
Global South art takes centre stage at Venice Biennale

Exhibition is full of artists whose work has never before been seen in the West

April 24, 2024, 4:36 AM
Abdallah Al-Khatib's Little Palestine: Diary of a Siege (2021) was co-financed by the Doha Film Institute and will be on display at the Venice Biennale. Photo: DFI
Qatar's Venice Biennale show celebrates 40 years of Arab film

A new exhibition looks at art that tells a different story to the mainstream

April 16, 2024, 3:12 AM
Wael Shawky's I Am Hymns of the New Temples (2023) pulls together stories from Greek and Roman mythology. Photo: Lisson Gallery
For Wael Shawky, Venice Biennale will be his Egyptian homecoming

The internationally renowned artist will represent his home country with new work that reframes the Urabi revolt as a musical

April 07, 2024, 3:04 AM
Iterarte’s website opens on an animation by the Iranian artist Afsoon that emphasises the cross-cultural connections of the Mediterranean, Middle East and South Asia. Photo: Iterarte
New art platform Iterarte aims to create a cultural Silk Road

The online venture is oriented both towards artists and collectors

March 26, 2024, 3:04 AM
Issam Kourbaj's Capsized (2020) refers to the capsizing of boats carrying migrants. Photo: This Is Photography
Touching a nerve: Exhibition draws parallels between Syria and Gaza

Artist Issam Kourbaj, whose work is on display in Cambridge, has had a singular focus since the conflict broke out in his home country

March 18, 2024, 2:05 PM
Colour synergy and strong sales made for a sunny Art Dubai Digital. Getty Images
Art Dubai rides its buzz to strong sales of contemporary and digital works

A bulk of the purchases from this year's event came from private foundations and collectors

March 03, 2024, 7:31 AM
Palestinian artist Malak Mattar, 24, studies at the prestigious Central Saint Martins art school in London. Victoria Pertusa / The National
'Black speaks to me': Gaza artist can no longer see colour

Separated from her loved ones, Malak Mattar is turning to a vast monochrome canvas to illustrate what it takes to survive

January 29, 2024, 3:03 AM