Speaking of Art – Details, episodes & analysis

Morad Montazami elaborates on the significance of Volcanique (1985) by Mohamed Melehi, and explains how the artwork manifests the ethos of Casablanca Art School through its mateirality, its imagery and its context. 

Backstory is available in both audio and video formats.  

To view this episode in video, click here. 

CREDITS 

Host 

Morad Montazami 

Artwork 

Mohamed Melehi, Volcanique (1985) 

Editorial and Content Producers 

Jyoti Dhar, Kamayani Sharma, Mahshid Rafiei 

Multimedia Producers 

Dima Bittard, Ward Helal, Shafeek Nalakath Kareem, Unnikrishnan Suresh, Magdi Tawfig 

Special Thanks 

May Alqaydi, Nawar Al Qassimi 

© Sharjah Art Foundation, 2024 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What role have artists played in dismantling colonial infrastructures? In what ways have they contributed to creating new platforms in the postcolonial era? What can we learn about forging solidarities through art from past generations? In this episode, Hoor Al Qasimi speaks with Morad Montazami, who co-curated The Casablanca Art School: Platforms and Patterns for a Postcolonial Avant-Garde (1962–1987) with Madeleine de Colnet, about the artistic revolution that followed Morrocan independence in 1956. They discuss the transformation of Casablanca Art School and the efforts towards cultural decolonisation led by Farid Belkahia, Mohammed Chabâa, Bert Flint, Toni (Antonella) Maraini and Mohamed Melehi. Tune in to hear about the story of the Moroccan ‘new wave’ that triggered a new social movement and contributed to artistic solidarities between Latin America, West Asia and Africa. 

CREDITS 

Host: Hoor Al Qasimi 

Guest: Morad Montazami 

Editorial and Content Producers: Jyoti Dhar, Kamayani Sharma, Mahshid Rafiei 

Sound Producer and Editor: Basil Kisswani 

Music and Sound: Luc Allieres, Café da Mañha, 2021

Special Thanks: Nawar Al Qassimi. May Alqaydi, Dima Bittard, Unnikrishnaan Suresh, Ward Helal, Hasan Hujairi, Asad Siddique

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Backstory explores the story behind an artwork, including its conception, context and meaning in the world. Join curator Omar Kholeif as he speaks about ‘Leave to Cool’ (2020), a painting by Lubaina Himid, to learn more about the significance of its imagery, materiality and history.

Backstory is available in both audio and video formats.

To watch the video on YouTube, click here.

CREDITS

Host

Omar Kholeif

Artwork

Lubaina Himid, Leave to Cool (2020)

Editorial and Content Producers

Jyoti Dhar, Kamayani Sharma

Multimedia Producers

Dima Bittard, Ward Helal, Shafeek Nalakath Kareem, Unnikrishnan Suresh, Magdi Tawfig

Special Thanks

Nawar Al Qassimi, Mahmoud El Safadi, Zeina Kattan, Souraya Talal Kreidieh

© Sharjah Art Foundation, 2023

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How do the concepts of home, longing and belonging resonate through works by artists Etel Adnan, Lubaina Himid, Rashed Aereen and Saloua Rouda Choucair? In this episode, Hoor Al Qasimi speaks with curator Omar Kholeif about the themes that percolate through the exhibition ‘In the Heart of Another Country: The Diasporic Imagination Rises’, an extensive presentation of works from the Sharjah Art Foundation Collection, which took place from July to September 2023. The episode traces sentiments of memorial and homecoming via a constellation of artistic voices including those of Hayv Kahraman and Anuar Khalifi. Together, our guests explore what it means to think through concepts of mobility, hybridity and diaspora in the current moment–and, specifically, what it means to bring these ideas home to Sharjah.

CREDITS

Host: Hoor Al Qasimi

Guests: Omar Kholeif, Hayv Kahraman, Anuar Khalifi

Editorial and Content Producers: Jyoti Dhar, Kamayani Sharma

Sound Producer and Editor: Basil Kisswani

Artworks: Bani Abidi, Memorial to Lost Words (2017-2018); Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige, The Golden Record (2011) from The Lebanese Rocket Society

Special Thanks: Nawar Al Qassimi, Hasan Hujairi, Dima Bittard, Asad Siddique, Unnikrishnan Suresh

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Join Natasha Ginwala as she explores one of Lala Rukh’s works from her iconic series, River In An Ocean, and how it captures the diverse rhythms of life and landscape with a minimalist vocabulary of lines, symbols and blackness.

Backstory is available in both audio and video formats. To view this episode in video, click here.

CREDITS

Host: Natasha Ginwala

Artwork: River In An Ocean: 6 (1993) and Moonscape (2010 / 2012) by Lala Rukh

Producers: Jyoti Dhar, Kamayani Sharma and Mahshid Rafiei.

Film and Multimedia: Dima Bittard, Unnikrishnan Suresh, Ward Helal, Shafeek Nalakath Kareem, and Magdi Tawfig.

Special Thanks: Nawar Al Qassimi, Umer Butt, Elaine Lubguban and Mahmoud El Safadi.

© Sharjah Art Foundation, 2024

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lala Rukh was one of the most significant artists of her generation. Her practice encompassed drawing, printmaking, photography and video, developed against the backdrop of political turmoil and feminist movements in Pakistan. Yet, despite her expansive four-decade artistic, pedagogical and political career that has influenced generations in Pakistan and beyond, she has remained an enigmatic figure. Join Hoor Al Qasimi and Natasha Ginwala, curators of the exhibition In The Round, the first major survey of works by Lala Rukh that includes rarely seen drawings and installations as well as extensive archival material, as they explore the impact that she has had on the lives and works of her peers and students. Tune in to hear insights from those that were closest to her, including Umer Butt, Mariah Lookman and Maryam Rahman, as they share what Lala Rukh meant to them as an artist, an educator and a friend.

CREDITS

Host: Hoor Al Qasimi

Guests: Natasha Ginwala, Umer Butt, Mariah Lookman, and Maryam Rahman.

Producers: Jyoti Dhar, Kamayani Sharma and Mahshid Rafiei.

Sound Producer: Basil Kisswani.

Sound Editors: Basil Kisswani and Kamayani Sharma.

Music and Sound: All Pakistan Music Archive and Grey Noise Gallery, Dubai.

Rasoolan Bai, Dadra, 1961; Roshan Ara Begum, speech, 1960; Roshan Ara Begum, Khamaj, 1960; Sadiq Ali Mando, Clarinet, 1961; Zahida Parveen, Tilang Bahar, 1961. 

Special Thanks: Nawar Al Qassimi, Mahmoud El Safadi, Hasan Hujairi, Asad Siddique, Dima Bittard, Ward Helal, and Shafeek Nalakath.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Join Elizabeth Giorgis as she tells us about some of the symbols and imagery that appear in Melkamzer’s paintings, such as faces, vines, suns and moons, to gain insight into reading telsem. 

Backstory is available in both audio and video formats. To view this episode in video, click here.

CREDITS

Host: Elizabeth Giorgis

Artwork: Untitled  (year) by Henok Melkamzer.

Producers: Jyoti Dhar, Kamayani Sharma and Mahshid Rafiei.

Film and Multimedia: Dima Bittard, Unnikrishnan Suresh, Ward Helal, Shafeek Nalakath Kareem, and Magdi Tawfig.

Special thanks: Nawar Al Qassimi

© Sharjah Art Foundation, 2023

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How do artistic practices traverse across generations? How do they continue to address critical conditions in our present moment? In our latest episode, Hoor Al Qasimi speaks with curator Elizabeth Giorgis about the work of artist Henok Melkamzer, one of the most prolific practitioners of the Ethiopian art form called telsem. Melkamzer talks to Giorgis about his journey and process. Drawing from astrology, religion and spirituality, telsem interweaves symbols, drawings and texts imbued with spiritual and philosophical significance. Tune in to hear about how this art form is also an intellectual tradition that has been shaped throughout the ages by the sociopolitical and cultural histories of Ethiopia, and how contemporary artists like Melkamzer challenge Western conceptions of modernism through telsem.

CREDITS

Host: Hoor Al Qasimi

Guests: Elizabeth Giorgis and Henok Melkamzer.

Producers: Jyoti Dhar, Kamayani Sharma and Mahshid Rafiei.

Sound Producer: Basil Kisswani.

Sound Editors: Basil Kisswani and Kamayani Sharma.

Music and Sound: Courtesy of Girum Mezmur and Asserate Bossena, Performance at the Africa Institute, March 2023

Special Thanks: Nawar Al Qassimi, Amal Al Ali, Hanna Teshome and Dawit Habeshas.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Backstory, curator and art historian Salah Hassan elaborates on the historical significance of Untitled (1990), a painting by Gavin Jantjes, and how it contributes to the discourse and representation of African and African Diaspora art.

Backstory is available in both audio and video formats. To view this episode in video, click here.

CREDITS

Host: Salah M Hassan. 

Artwork: Untitled  (1990) by Gavin Janjtes.

Producers: Jyoti Dhar, Kamayani Sharma and Mahshid Rafiei.

Film and Multimedia: Dima Bittard, Unnikrishnan Suresh, Ward Helal, Shafeek Nalakath Kareem, and Magdi Tawfig.

Special Thanks: Nawar Al Qassimi and Carmen Hassan.

© Sharjah Art Foundation, 2023

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What does a sustained engagement with art and activism allow for? How can radical cultural practice forge solidarities across different communities, geographies and temporalities? Join Hoor Al Qasimi in conversation with curator Salah M. Hassan and artist Gavin Jantjes on the occasion of ‘To Be Free! A Retrospective 1970–2023’. Together, the guests explore the artist’s five-decade practice committed to furthering Black liberation––whether it be through direct action in anti-apartheid struggles in South Africa, artistic contributions to postcolonial movements or by foregrounding the contemporary legacies of slavery. Tune in to hear insights into the multifaceted journey of Jantjes, as he tells us how he continually challenged expectations of Black creativity through his work as a painter, printmaker, writer, curator and activist.

CREDITS

Host: Hoor Al Qasimi

Guests: Salah M. Hassan, Gavin Jantjes

Editorial and Content Producers: Jyoti Dhar, Kamayani Sharma, Mahshid Rafiei

Sound Producer and Editor: Basil Kisswani

Music: Abdullah Ibrahim, The Wedding (1978)

C: Abdullah Ibrahim© Edition Abdullah Ibrahim Ekapa 

Special Thanks: Nawar Al Qassimi, Carmen Hassan, Asad Siddique, Dima Abou Zannad

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.