Photo credit: Khaleej Times
After debuting at Deichtorhallen Hamburg in November 2022, the Sharjah Art Foundation Collection’s largest exhibition opens on July 15, 2023. In Sharjah, In the Heart of Another Country features new acquisitions and restored works, many of which are on display for the first time. The exhibition, which runs until September 24, 2023, contains approximately 150 works by 60 artists from three generations in all six Al Mureijah Art Spaces galleries.
Over the past 30 years, Sharjah Biennial and Sharjah Art Foundation have offered Middle Eastern, African, and Asian perspectives to underrepresented artists. The Foundation’s public collection of modern and contemporary art, commissions, exhibitions, performances, and conversations have created a record of current thought and form. This show explores artists who explore longing, belonging, and rootedness.
The exhibition explores the home’s changing definition in three phases. Many artists here have migrated from South and West Asia, through Africa and the Caribbean, and now dwell in dispersed locations far from their homelands. ‘In the Heart of Another Country’ reimagines a colonized world through painting, portraiture, architecture, and abstraction from the 20th century to the present, exploring the politics of place and placelessness. Recent restorations and modern acquisitions tell a story of artist connection, sometimes forged in political and social instability. The Sharjah Art Foundation and Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, show is curated by Dr. Omar Kholeif, Director of Collections and Senior Curator. Invest Bank funded this show.
Deichtorhallen Hamburg and Snoeck have released a comprehensive book edited and co-authored by Dr. Omar Kholeif. Bani Abidi, Stephanie Bailey, Anne Barlow, Lubaina Himid, Chris McCormack, Hrair Sarkissian, and Sofia Victorino contributed. Hoor and Dirk Luckow wrote the foreword, and Nawar Al Qasimi wrote the afterword. SAF, Snoeck, and Diechtorhallen sell the book. In the summer, Sharjah Art Foundation’s Learning Programme will offer workshops inspired by the exhibition’s artists and a public closing event with leading researchers and academics.
