Islamic Arts 23 Islamic Arts Diary by Lucien de Guise


THE SHOW GOES ON Tere cannot be many conflict zones that still prioritise art as much as Palestine. Te fragile ‘peace plan’ hasn’t stopped outrages in the West Bank and hardly provides reassurance about basic human existence in Gaza. Despite this, the Ramallah Art Fair is boldly continuing with its fifth edition: ‘Narratives Under Occupation’, organised by Zawyeh Gallery of Ramallah and Dubai. Te title says it all really. Nothing


could be more different from, for example, Art Basel Qatar. Te first edition of the latter event took place in early February, and the razzmatazz surrounding it was extensive, although perhaps not as much as the Diriyah Biennale, which has more millions poured into it by Saudi Arabia. Qatar is rich but small, so the effort has to be focused although the Basel name seems to be worth its weight in something more valuable than gold. Like everything else in the Gulf, it shows the massive disparities of the Middle East. Resource-rich countries with little cultural history take all the international limelight while localities with millennia of visual creativity, such as Palestine and Egypt, hardly appear on the radar of the freewheeling art world. In Qatar they brought in Egyptian


(born) artist Wael Shawky as artistic director of the fair’s first edition. He is an impressive figure and no doubt helped this version of Art Basel turn out to be a bit less commercial than it


SCANDI NOIR


Scandinavia can be relied on to provide an entirely different vision of a field that many think they know well. Deviant Ornaments at the National Museum of Norway is the sort of survey that will not be happening in the Islamic world. Examining the history of ‘queerness’ in Islamic art is a first – perhaps not to be followed in the future. Tere are very few conventional Islamic-art exhibitions at the moment, so this new approach might raise some alternative awareness. Deviant Ornaments sets the scene with its title. Spanning more than a thousand years and


As a small digression, I would like


The Ramallah Art Fair is a small but valiant event when compared to the latest Art Basel, this time in Qatar


might have been. Most of the time he is well away from his home region in the very different surroundings of Philadelphia. Alongside some noteworthy


Middle Eastern galleries, the fair itself had the global art-world glamour of essential names like Gagosian, Hauser & Wirth, Pace, White Cube and David Zwirner. Few of them had any connection with the Arab world. It was, however, gratifying that the Paris-based Galerie Chantal Crousel was exhibiting the work of a personal favourite, Mona Hatoum. Not only is this artist originally from the Middle East, but she is also more specifically of Palestinian heritage. Te real bonus is that she is acclaimed far beyond her place of birth. Her recent exhibition at the Barbican Art Gallery in London was just one of many shows that Mona Hatoum has had in her new homeland.


four continents, it brings together textiles, manuscripts, video, digital-art photography, music and painting. Tere is nothing as mainstream as distinctions of place and chronology. Te approach is global and yet brings in some of Norway’s art history, which usually has little connection with the Islamic world. It is going to be a tough sell


for most Muslims, but the curator is really trying to invite discussion and understanding. Instead of Western concepts of ‘coming out’, there is instead an emphasis on ‘letting in’ – a term apparently developed by psychologist Sekneh Hammoud-Beckett, which


to mention retrospectively that her exhibition was a landmark in many ways without generating a lot of publicity. Tis artist was paired with the late, great Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti. Te two are very different and yet were given equal billing at this exhibition. Hatoum creates situations and settings in which the human form is superfluous, while Giacometti created almost nothing except humanoid bodies, usually the etiolated type seen brooding or striding across the countless galleries in which his work has been exhibited. Just as Giacometti developed


advanced anxiety from the destruction of the Second World War, Hatoum is stirred by more current conflagrations. Being of Palestinian descent, there is that ever-present conflict in the background. As most of her work was created long before 7 October 2023, it’s a useful reminder that this battle in the Middle East has been bubbling away for more than three years. Not that Hatoum’s focus is oppressively about the Palestinian cause. She is against all injustice, and there was no need for trigger warnings about flags, rivers, the sea or any proscribed organisations. She is above that. As with Giacometti’s anti-war stance, there is no preaching or politicising. Te exhibition ended with further


incendiary thoughts. Te final work was Hot Spot (2018), which has more colour than the whole show combined. Te red neon globe suggests destruction – by climate change as well as warmongering


politicians. It was reflected gloriously on the gallery windows, encouraging visitors to look around and realise that the only thing saved from the Second World War German airforce is St Giles’ Cripplegate church. Te show ended last year and could have been an effective way of showing that Palestine has a strong and adaptable culture – now mostly outside its homeland. Being in London’s stark but pristine and super-expensive financial district removes the viewer further than ever from the devastation of the real Palestine. Te Ramallah Art Fair brings us


back to a land that has been shaped by living under a very destructive occupation. Te works on display are far from being the stock-in-trade of those slick outfits which roam the world as part of Art Basel. Tese are affordable works with improvised displays. Tey have not been through the painstaking process of being selected for ‘a concisely curated showcase celebrating Qatar’s vibrant cultural landscape …’ What any part of Palestine would not give to have something like the Doha Design District when electricity and running water are the priorities. None of this has held back the


creative stalwarts from Palestine and the Golan Heights who are participating in the art fair. Forty-two artists explore contemporary themes of displacement, loss, identity, memory and the daily realities of living with oppression while also presenting artworks that envision a future without occupation. Resistance


ORIENTALIST REHABILITATION


The Dance (2022) by Kasra Jalilipour © Kasra Jalilipour


TCH


ortune and m China


Embossed gold belt buckle, circa 19th century, with multiple hands of Fatimah, courtesy of the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art. Photo: Nasjonalmuseet/ Annar Borgli


has been adopted by many Muslims with divergent inclinations. Going one step further in an age with the new non-binary ‘normal’, the exhibition space has had a work created to protect it. Although there is a lot of content from India on display, this guardian force of the safe space was created by a Senegalese textile artist. Featuring dozens of amulets, this protective feature might raise as many uncomfortable questions about superstition in Islam as it does about the main theme of ‘deviance’.


• Deviant Ornaments at the National Museum of Norway, Oslo. Ends 15 March


Whenever questions are raised about external perceptions of Islam, the word ‘Orientalist’ is bound to surface. Fortunately, more attention has been given recently to the original understanding of the word. No other movement has made the same effort with appreciating the Islamic world as that enterprising band of painters who headed east and south in the 19th century to record the lives of their neighbours. Tere are new exhibitions coming up to tackle the theme, and last year an attempt was made in Doha – by the Lusail Museum in collaboration with Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art – to explain the French artist considered by many to be the greatest villain of them all, Jean-Léon Gérôme. It was an impressive display of the definitive Orientalist painter and sculptor, spoiled mainly by the compulsory introduction of modern reinterpretations of the subject. For a more direct and less


apologetic approach there is one commercial gallery that has been taking up the cause and letting the artists’ works do the talking. Instead of letting the thoughts of Edward Said and Linda Nochlin loose on the subject,


London’s venerable Colnaghi (established 1760) and Colnaghi Elliott Master Drawings (established more recently) provided an inspiring display in the intimacy of their St James’s gallery. Dreams and Journeys:


Revisiting Orientalism ended in January after doing a memorable job quietly raising interest in the paintings, plus a lecture on the subject with refreshments from the tea department of nearby Fortnum & Mason. Very civilised and in keeping with the original spirit of collecting these works. Te team has continued its


soft-power persuasion at Master Drawings New York 2026. Cross Routes takes the longer view by assembling rare works on paper and paintings from the 17th to 19th centuries. Te exhibition explores how artists have


The Camp, Grey (2025) by Alaa Albaba, acrylic on canvas, courtesy Zawyeh Gallery


and resilience are central subjects in the artistic production of the Ramallah Art Fair, which is divided into two sections: Contemporary and Rare. Among the Contemporary, the


• Ramallah Art Fair, Narratives Under Occupation, Zawyeh Gallery, Ramallah, Palestine, ends 29 March


works of Alaa Albaba convey the reality of Palestinian refugee camps that have existed for so long they are barely noticed. Others show the daily anguish of life in Gaza or the vigour of street demonstrations. Within the ‘Rare’ section is the output of artists whose lives have mostly ended but continue to inspire the constantly regenerating art scene of Palestine. Attention is given to one living artist in particular. Shafik Radwan’s original village was destroyed in 1948. After that he went on to have a successful career as an artist, only to lose all his works recently in the rubble of his home in Gaza.


Taking Refreshment at Ain Sefra by Marie Lucas-Robiquet, oil on canvas, courtesy Colnaghi


The Watering Hole at Sunset by Charles-Théodore Frère, watercolour on paper, courtesy Colnaghi


responded to encounters across time, cultures and locations. Te diversity of artistic traditions is paramount in the story of cross-border encounters. Most exciting of all, with both exhibitions, was the inclusion of women artists. Tese were from the era being examined, rather than being sneaked into the modern era as so many other exhibitions have done. Te presence of Marie Lucas-Robiquet and to a smaller extent Virginie Demont-Breton might even put a stop to the endless talk elsewhere of the 19th-century ‘male gaze’.


ASIAN ART | MARCH 2026


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