Amidst the quarantine 2020, Suzy enters artist Samia Halaby’s studio in New York City’s Tribeca, brimming with colorful spirals and bold geometric shapes. As published on Harper’s Bazaar Art Arabia

Featuring an intro text by Suzy Sikorski on the origins of the UAE art scene that was included in the Imago Mundi Project she co-curated for the UAE and Bahrain in 2016.

Latif Al Ani, whose role as ‘Father of Iraqi Photography’ encompasses three decades of documentation, from the 1950s through 1970s. His work captures the belle époque of the cosmopolitan and modern Iraq during these years.

In one of the most groundbreaking international shows for an artist from the UAE, Abdulqader Al Rais achieved his first international retrospective at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris earlier this September, writes Suzy Sikorski

Seven graduating female architecture students at the American University of Sharjah are challenging the timeless elements of this work out of their love for Renaissance.

Nouf is an experimental photographer and visual communications designer who uses her background in English Literature and Linguistics to explore identity politics and gender issues from a feminist perspective.

Khalil reflects on his time as Hassan Sharif’s student and his perspective on the direction of the UAE art scene. He was part of a progressive and close-knit group that would incorporate Hassan’s practices within their own respective traditions. Image courtesy of Ammar Al Attar.

For the first time on the US West Coast, the San Francisco community welcomed GENERA#ION, an exhibition of contemporary art from Saudi Arabia this August. Spearheaded by the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture and in partnership with Culturunners and Gharem Studio, the exhibition was part of a multi-city tour trekking across interstate highway systems ranging from Houston, Texas to Aspen, Colorado.

Jump into week 7 of the quarantine with Emirati artist Hassan Sharif in his early 1980s performances in Dubai and London! Finding a few parallels to our methodical and rather mundane day-to-days in self-isolation, we are reminded of Hassan’s carefully constructed activities rooted in Fluxus and British Constructivist thought. We sit down (virtually) with his nephew Mohamed Sharif to discuss the role of performance in his uncle’s practice and Mohamed’s archival work at the Artist’s Estate.

While unraveling time-warped thoughts one month into the quarantine, Suzy interviews Munira Al Sayegh on her experience curating ‘Bayn’ with UAE Unlimited in 2017. Reflecting on this shared ‘in-between-ness’ sensation, their conversation trails from their personal lives growing up in Abu Dhabi and New York and Munira’s takeaway moments of her first-ever curated show.

‘The Quarantine Files’ series presents of the most inspiring stories of the pioneer Egyptian female artist Inji Efflatoun during her time as a political prisoner in jail from 1959-1963. Including first hand accounts from Inji herself, this article is a story of how bravery, perseverance and ingenuity lead to self-discovery and artistic explorations —all while confined and quarantined within a jail cell. Hope is just as contagious these days - read on.

In this interview, uncover the stories of Emirati photography Fatima Albudoor on adapting to college life in Boston as illustrated beautifully and intimately in her artist book ‘Making Cathedrals.’  Exploring the sensations of transience, dislocation and the ‘in-between-ness’ of our life journeys, this emotional read is a must during our quarantine days ahead.

The vivid narratives of Suzy Sikorski’s lengthy photography adventures and artist studio sessions. Both a witness and active player in these memories, Suzy weaves her way into these beautifully captured stills.

Digging into the 2017 archives of the first time I interviewed Ammar Al Attar, we trace the Emirati photographer’s evolution of his four-year-long archival Cinema in the UAE Project. How do we remember what’s lost and give importance to the unwanted and overlooked? Read on!

An essay on the Palestinian photographer Ahlam Shibli in Tribe Photography magazine. Shibli’s hyper-visual images draw deeper attention to everyday life, and shift our understanding of marginalized communities as they are depicted in media images, closing the distance between documentary and spontaneous intimacy, and between critical detachment and compassionate engagement. 

Meet Ali Cha’aban, a Lebanese born, Jeddah based artist who is tackling what it means to be Arab in today’s world. His works are triggering new debates relevant to global politics and social realities, explored through his interactive installations, street and fashion photography. Mid East Art sits down with the artist to discuss his unique inspirations and where he's going.

Mid East Art unveils never before seen footage and an interview text of the late Saleh Al Ustad, one of the pioneer fine art photographers of the UAE and Gulf region. This feature documents Saleh’s history from Missouri to Southern California in the early 1980s and the establishment of a fine art scene in the UAE.

This is a personal story of how some of the leading Emirati artists have worked to fashion a path through an often fast-moving and potentially bewildering landscape of change. Senses of identity and belonging, of heritage and inheritance, loom large under conditions of constant transformation. In a place that is as young as the UAE, artists find themselves grappling with the recent past as they look towards the future.