![]() ![]() Sedira's work over the past 25 years has traced how politics, colonialism and migration have created new identities in the region and reshaped existing ties and connections.įor the pavilion, she will focus on Algerian cinema of the 1960s and '70s, examining its links to Italian and French producers as well as the image of a national identity that it helped form. Sedira’s role in representing France, one of the core national pavilions in colonial-era prime position in the Giardini, will give an exemplary opportunity to an artist who incisively questions national and cultural belonging.įrench-Algerian artist Zineb Sedira is representing France at the biennial she is pictured here at her 2018 solo show at the Sharjah Art Foundation. The Algerian-French artist Zineb Sedira will open for France, in a pavilion curated by Yasmina Reggad, Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath. Algerian influence in the France pavilion In 2013 she curated the UAE National Pavilion’s exhibition of Mohammed Kazem. The pavilion is curated by Reem Fadda, the director of the Cultural Foundation in Abu Dhabi, and is Fadda’s second foray at the biennale. The Riyadh artist approaches the shift through the idea of the line, a symbol for the expressive mark that is the fundamental building block of drawing and creativity, he says. Shono will reflect on the transformation that Saudi Arabia is undergoing, from the previous environment that stymied critical thought, to the present, with its energetic espousal of the visual arts. Photo: Artur Weber, courtesy of the artist and the Royal Commission for AlUla Muhannad Shono's 'On This Sacred Day' (2022) releases the scent of burnt palm leaves into the air as part of the Oasis Reborn exhibition in AlUla. The artist has become a central figure in the efflorescent Saudi art scene, with major commissions for the first Desert X AlUla, the inaugural Diriyah Biennale and the Bienalsur, among others. ![]() Saudi Arabia's pick to represent the country – the second art presentation in its new Arsenale pavilion – is Muhannad Shono. Omani art history is comparatively little studied, even among the Gulf countries, and Stoby is a recognised expert in the field, so the pavilion offers a chance to view the country’s contemporary art currents in person. It includes as its participants two of Stoby's younger artists for the pavilion: Khimji, an Omani artist who lives in London, and Al Rawahi, who died in 2017 aged just 30. After the Youth Studio, he continued his studies in the US and then returned in the 1990s to found the Circle, which runs to this day. He also played an important role in setting up parts of the educational infrastructure for Oman with the Youth Studio in Muscat, where subsequent generations of Omani artists met and trained, such as Al Riyami and Meer. Sonya is Oman’s most established early contemporary artist he started painting in the 1970s – before similar forays into painting in the UAE – with works strongly inflected by Omani heritage and identity. Similar to the cross-generational influence exercised by Ibrahim, Stoby traces connections among the group, primarily through Sonya and Meer. Curated by the art historian Aisha Stoby, the show combines three generations of Omani artists: Anwar Sonya, Hassan Meer, Budoor Al Riyami, Radhika Khimji and Raiya Al Rawahi. Oman will appear at the Venice Biennale for the first time in the sultanate’s history, with a retrospectively minded exhibition. ![]() Both remain tight-lipped about what he will produce: what colours he might bring to Venice’s brilliant blue skies and grey-green canals, or what repeated forms he might emblazon across the UAE pavilion’s bricked, cavernous interior in the Arsenale. Ibrahim’s pavilion will be curated by Maya Allison, the executive director of the NYUAD Art Gallery, with whom he has collaborated in the past. ![]() Afterwards, he drove to Sharif’s house and stayed there for days, before regaining the courage to work. It is warm-hearted too: his well-known chairs series, which depicts a seated figure in varying shades of bright pinks, reds and blues, portrays Sharif, the artist who helped pave the way for contemporary art in the UAE – and who helped Ibrahim personally after the infamous incident in 1999 when Ibrahim, discouraged by public and critical opposition to his work, burnt the contents of his studio in the desert. Time and again, it is sui generis Ibrahim, with monochrome and lurid colours – pinks and greens and yellows – and its suggestions of a landscape of fantastical animals. More importantly, his work, with its mix of outsider art, Land Art and folk motifs is both historical and non-contemporary. Seven art shows for your diary in 2022: from Venice Biennale to Desert X AlUla ![]()
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