Curator Maya El Khalil On Abu Dhabi Art’s Beyond: Emerging Artists Section
Curator Maya El Khalil talks to BAZAAR Art about curating the Beyond: Emerging Artists section for this year’s Abu Dhabi Art fair, the themes and challenges involved, and why the chosen artists are ones to watch
From 19 to 26 November 2020, Abu Dhabi Art will embrace an interactive digital format, bringing together six leading guest curators and showcasing artworks online with a geographical focus behind each work.
This year, curator Maya El Khalil has worked with three inspiring female artists for the fair’s Beyond: Emerging Artists section, namely Hind Mezaina, Afra Al Dhaheri and Afra Al Suwaidi. “Hind Mezaina works with themes of collective memory, national identity and media representation,” explains El Khalil.
Unsheltered by Afra Al Suwaidi
“She primarily works with photography and archival material, having branched more recently into video work. For Afra Al Dhaheri, growing in a country in perpetual change, notions of time and memory form an intrinsic part of her practice. She is a multimedia artist who uses the properties of material to convey these notions, such as the cooling of molten glass or the growth of strands of hair. Afra Al Suwaidi is a young artist exploring issues of violation and abuse which exist within the private and public frameworks of society.” With Al Suwaidi’s practice primarily rooted in sculpture, for her participation in Beyond: Emerging Artists, she will instead experiment with photography and collages.
Hind Mezaina
Through their work, the three artists investigate experiences of remembrance. Mezaina’s point of departure is the discovery of a video shared on Twitter about the UAE’s participation in the 1980 World Disco Dancing Competition in London. This has sparked many questions about embodied memory: What is held or enacted in the body? How does the body act as the site of cultural contractions and identity formation?
“Afra Al Dhaheri begins with embodied recollections, unreeling ideas of identity from the physical as caught in the tresses of hair – her own, as well as the archetypal and socially conditioned,” says El Khalil. “She pursues these recollections though formal investigations that tease out the complex associations of hair: it’s ability to be conditioned, to hold form, to accumulate memory and express perceptions of time. Afra Al Suwaidi processes fragmented memories hidden in society’s innermost structure.
Tasreeha by Afra Al Dhaheri
She uses collage techniques to compose social and domestic structures that expose unspoken violations. Dichotomies of inside/outside, hidden/revealed come into play as the juxtaposition of materials perform and order tense complexities of withholding and confronting.”
Afra Al Dhaheri
El Khalil is currently living in Oxford, UK, after having lived 15 years in Jeddah. She is quite familiar with the scene in the UAE having worked with a number of artists from or living in the Emirates and having collaborated with a number of galleries and institutions there. “Cultural developments in the UAE have inspired the development of the contemporary art scene across the region,” she says. “The whole ecosystem around world class museums, art centres, art foundations, creative districts, biennials and residencies, and academic programmes has acted as a catalyst to a scene constantly reinventing itself. The opportunities available for artists to learn, experiment, create and improve their practice are unique in the region.”
The curator has experienced the many challenges of curating, but the main one, working in the region, relates to optimising reach once an exhibition is delivered. “Artists and curators work so hard envisioning and putting together an exhibition,” she expresses.
“The real work starts once the exhibition is open: This is when programs should be in place to ensure the themes addressed by the artists are being explored in depth throughout the length of the exhibition. How can we attract larger crowds and improve the quality of engagement?”
A Performance of Valour by Hind Mezaina
The work presented by the emerging artists this year will be different to previous years as it is unfinished work. There is a profound attempt at introspection, whether at the personal or society level. “This is a lengthy process,” reveals El Khalil. The artists will reveal their work in progress at the opening of the fair on 19 November and will continue to develop the works throughout the exhibition. “They will also share with the public their process of research, documentation and experimentation,” adds El Khalil. “Two of the artists, Afrah Al Dhaheri and Hind Mezaina are working towards a solo exhibition following their participation in Beyond: Emerging Artists. This is a great opportunity for them to test and execute their ideas.”
Afra Al Suwaidi
El Khalil explains why she handpicked the three artists: “Afra Al Dhaheri unconsciously infuses poetry and beauty at every step of her creative process; Hind Mezaina looks at her society with sharp sensitivity and a constructive critical mind; and Afra Al Suwaidi navigates courageously through society’s taboos with love and empathy.
Ultimately, in a year of forced hiatus, where experiences of time have become distorted, isolation is providing productive new spaces to consider the qualities and possibilities of memory. I hope visitors will be inspired to follow the progress of each work and engage with the artists in discussing the themes explored.”
Lead image courtesy of Tim Bowditch