FotoFest 2014 Biennial:
VIEW FROM INSIDE
Contemporary Arab video, photography, and mixed-media art
March 15–April 27, 2014
Houston, Texas
U.S.A.
FotoFest announces the names of the 48 leading contemporary Arab artists featured in the principal exhibitions of their 2014 biennial—VIEW FROM INSIDE. The fifteenth edition of the international biennial in Houston, Texas takes place March 15 to April 27, 2014. These presentations of contemporary photo and media-related art from the Middle East and North Africa will be the largest program of its kind in the United States in more than a decade.
VIEW FROM INSIDE features artists living and working in Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Yemen. Some of the artists will be exhibiting their work in the United States for the first time. Seventeen of the artists are women.
FotoFest 2014 Biennial Arab artists (alphabetized by last name with countries of origin)
Ebtisam AbdulAziz (UAE), Khalil Abdul Wahid (UAE), Ammar al Beik (Syria), Manal Al Dowayan (Saudi Arabia), Shadia Alem (Saudi Arabia), Reem al Faisal (Saudi Arabia), Sadik Alfraji (Iraq), Tarek Al-Ghossein (Palestine/Kuwait), Boushra Almutawakel (Yemen), Khalifa Al Obaidly (Qatar), Jowhara AlSaud (Saudi Arabia), Sama Alshaibi (Iraq), Karima Al Shomely (UAE), Sami al-Turki (Saudi Arabia), Tammam Azzam (Syria), Lara Baladi (Egypt), Hicham Benohoud (Morocco), Ayman Yossri Daydban (Saudi Arabia), Shady El-Noshokaty (Egypt), Ayman el Semary (Egypt), Lalla Essaydi (Morocco), Mounir Fatmi (Morocco), Lamya Gargash (UAE), Abdulnasser Gharem (Saudi Arabia), Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige (Lebanon), Khaled Hafez (Egypt), Hassan Hajjaj (Morocco), Rula Halawani (Palestine), Nermine Hammam (Egypt), Hazem Harb (Palestine), Hazem Taha Hussein (Egypt), George Fikry Ibrahim (Egypt), Noel Jabbour (Palestine), Ahmed Jadallah (Palestine), Mohamed Kanoo (Bahrain), Mohammed Kazem (UAE), Huda Lutfi (Egypt), Maha Malluh (Saudi Arabia), Ahmed Mater (Saudi Arabia), Hassan Meer (Oman), Samer Mohdad (Lebanon), Youssef Nabil (Egypt), Ayman Ramadan (Egypt), Steve Sabella (Palestine), Faisal Samra (Saudi Arabia), Wael Shawky (Egypt), Camille Zakharia (Lebanon)
FotoFest has commissioned German curator Karin Adrian von Roques as the Biennial Lead Curator. Ms. von Roques is known for her work, over the past 20 years, bringing contemporary Arab art to international museums and galleries throughout the world. She is working with FotoFest Co-Founder and Senior Curator Wendy Watriss to organize the 2014 Arab exhibitions.
“The exhibitions are not about the curator’s voice,” says Ms. von Roques. “They are about the artists and what is important to them. These are themes that are not unfamiliar in the West or the rest of the world. What differentiates this work is the particular ways in which individual Arab artists are addressing the concerns and issues of their own cultures.”
The Arab artists in the FotoFest 2014 Biennial address issues ranging from the regionally specific to the global. The themes are multi-layered, addressing fundamental issues from an inside perspective; from Arab artists who live and work in the region. The issues addressed include identities and change in the region; relationships to land and homeland; diaspora; memory; questions of gender; religion; historical heritage; the legacy of colonialism; and political upheaval.
“Our focus on Arab art was not motivated by opportunism related to the Arab world’s current prominence in the media, but rather by a genuine conviction that the U.S. and Western audiences should have the opportunity to hear from more voices in the region and see the Arab world in more nuanced ways,” says Ms. Watriss.
Book
With the Arab exhibitions, FotoFest is publishing a hard-bound book on contemporary Arab art, featuring over 200 color reproductions of Arab artworks, a DVD of video works and four essays by prominent scholars on Arab art. The book, co-published with Schilt Publishing in Amsterdam, and designed by HvAD Design, New York, will be available during the Biennial, in March 2014.
Arab programs—FotoFest 2014 Biennial
FotoFest will sponsor a day-long conference on Arab Art, Saturday, March 29 at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), with lectures and roundtables with leading curators, participating Arab artists, and scholars in the field. In early April, FotoFest will co-host an additional forum with Rice University, on the topic of “Arabophobia.”
Exhibiting Arab artists will be featured in FotoFest’s International Fine Print Auction and panels on collecting Arab art and the Middle East art market, as part of FotoFest’s 2014 VIP Collectors Programs accompanying the conference and auction.
Arab artists will participate in four artist-curator dialogues with U.S. curators and scholars, and in special book signings and exhibition tours. Two weekends of Arab films are being programmed with the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. The Biennial also includes Arab poetry and music events and a free school curriculum. A number of emerging Arab artists will receive scholarships to participate in FotoFest’s International Meeting Place Portfolio Review for Artists.
Arab programming partners
Arab Cultural and Community Center of Houston; Arab-American Educational Foundation (Houston); Athr Gallery (Jeddah); ArteEast (New York); Edge of Arabia (London); Inprint (Houston); Ayyam Gallery (Dubai); Menil Collection (Houston); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Rice University (Houston); Rothko Chapel (Houston); and Aperio, Music of the Americas (Houston).
Media partners
Art in America; Contemporary Practices, Visual Arts from the Middle East; European Photography; and Houston Public Media.
FotoFest 2014 Biennial Major Sponsors
The Brown Foundation Inc.; The Cullen Foundation; National Endowment for the Arts; JP Morgan Chase Foundation; The City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance; Houston Endowment, Inc.; Doubletree Hotel by Hilton Houston Downtown; The Crane Foundation; The Levant Foundation; Athr Gallery (Jeddah); Edge of Arabia (London); The Wortham Foundation; FotoFest Board of Directors; Judith and Gamble Baldwin; Ayyam Gallery (Dubai); Berloni Gallery (London); Texas Commission on the Arts; Sidley & Austin LLP; Salient Partners; Chris Olsen; HexaGroup; iLand Internet Solutions; The Deal Company; Brookfield Office Properties; Williams Tower Gallery
For more information or visuals:
Vinod Hopson, Press Coordinator, press [at] fotofest.org or T +1 713 223 5522 ext. 26
Rachel Patall-David, Blue Medium, rachel [at] fbluemedium.com or T +1 212 675 1800
