Beyond Boundaries: Art By Email At The Yorkshire Sculpture Park Showcases MENA Artists

Sahand Hesamiyan’s 3D printed sculpture is among the works by 16 artists from five MENA countries currently on show at the UK venue

Last year, the Yorkshire Sculpture Park issued an open call to artists from across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) to send in their artwork via email. The idea was to include artists unable to visit the park in the north of the UK and the resulting exhibition, Beyond Boundaries: Art By Email (until 3 March) includes 16 artists from five MENA countries.

The show is a collaboration between YSP and ArtRole and the idea is to show that art, ideas and cultural dialogue can transcend geographical boundaries even when the artists themselves cannot.

The works were selected by ArtRole Chief Executive Adalet R. Garmiany and YSP Senior Curator, Dr Helen Pheby, and include photography, film and performance and the presiding themes are of conflict, borders and national identity. Participants include the Egyptian artists Mai Al Shazly and Fathi Hawas, Egypt, Baris Seyitvan from Turkey and numerous names from Iraqi Kurdistan, including Younes Mohammad, Bnar Sardar and Zardasht Osman.

Truly embracing how technology can overcome distance, the Iranian artist Sahand Hesamiyan, who is represented by Dubai’s Third Line Gallery, is showing an abstract sculpture that was 3D printed by YSP following instructions submitted via email.

The multi-disciplinary artist, Azar Othman, from Iraqi Kurdistan, is also YSP’s first ‘virtual visiting artist’, and his presence in the exhibition comes in a photograph of his performance piece For Peoples Questions in a City, for which he collected opinions on current and cultural affairs from the people of Sulaymaniyah City, which were written down on paper and put on public display in the city.

For the full list of exhibiting artists and more information, visit ysp.co.uk.