Category: Exhibitions and Galleries Visited

The blog posts where I summarize my exploration of the local art community in Jeddah, such as gallery visits, art fairs and bazaars, and other events.

The clocks are striking thirteen

This exhibition really resonated with me, and somehow, I think it may have been the reason the concept of post-truth took hold in my mind. The first sentence in George Orwell’s book is: It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. – George Orwell, 1984 This is what the theme represented: I love that quote by Rumi. It’s divine. The exhibition itself was a motley of mediums and art, some grotesque, some cultural, some tragic, all evocative. The flickering TV screens were reflective of the information overload we witness in our society. And the …

Refusing to be Still

Refusing to be Still

All my exploration of art exhibits around Jeddah town ended up with me at ‘21,39’ Jeddah’s biggest exhibition. Their 2018 theme was ‘Refusing to be Still’ which is simply brilliant and fueled my creativity so much! I’m hoping I can join in for their next exhibit. The exhibition was curated by the assistant curator at Tate Modern, which is pretty awesome 😮 Also, they held workshops through March and April which, unfortunately, were in Arabic. So here are some snippets of the exhibit. There was a really interesting installation to do with hydraulics but the video isn’t getting uploaded here …

The Poetry Foundation

Like alot of other blogs, this one is verrryy much overdue. One cold snowy February morning in Chicago, when Manahil and Rayyan were off to the zoo with their dad, Ayla and I decided to go to The Poetry Foundation. The Uber dropped us off in front of a giant glass building with no door in sight and we stood there; me shivering, her nicely wrapped in her snowsuit, wondering where exactly to go. Then I saw a small golden plate on the glass building which led me into a glass corridor that emerged into a garden. Yes, it was …

The Art Institute of Chicago

The Chicago trip… what can I say? It was a medley of moments; distressing, uplifting, thrilling and overwhelming all in turn. I’m still working on completing the visual journal and then will post details of the whole experience. For now, let me write this blogpost on the highlight of the whole trip: a visit to the Art Institute of Chicago. Can you see the stars shining in my eyes as I say this? Where do I begin? Walking into the Art Institute of Chicago is like walking into a miniature replica of this world where every room leads you to …

The Other Story Project–collaboration

The Other Story Project is a fascinating community project initiated by Fatima Al Banawi in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.  Here’s a bit more about Fatima Banawi herself: I find her and her work very inspirational. The focus of my own past community projects in Karachi has been to provide a platform for the stories and voices of women and children. And now, with my MA project I hope to reach a greater understanding of contemporary forms of narrative art, not to mention the interchangeability of mediums such as writing, painting, sculpting, performing etc. The Other Story Project also has another arm …