Sheikh Sultan inaugurates SAF Spring exhibitions 2022

His Highness Dr Sheikh Sultan Bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, inaugurated, on Friday morning, three art exhibitions within the Spring 2022 programme organised by Sharjah Art Foundation, at art buildings in Al Mureijah Square and Bait Al Serkal.

The exhibitions opened by Sheikh Sultan included: the exhibition of artists Khalil Rabah, Lawrence Abu Hamdan and CAMP.

During his tour, the Ruler of Sharjah, was briefed on the highlights of the three various art exhibitions, and the experiences that the participating artists worked on during different periods of time, identifying the prominent works they included between drawing, formation, and visual and audio art, which were embodied by the participants’ stories, ideas, and artistic projects.

Sheikh Sultan toured the artist’s exhibition Khalil Rabah, evaluated by Sheikha Hoor Bint Sultan Al Qasimi, President of the Sharjah Art Foundation, where Sheikh Sultan listened to a detailed explanation about the important works included in the exhibition, which reflect the artist’s experience during his career from the nineties of the last century to the present.

Sheikh Sultan listened to the ideas of Khalil Rabah's artistic project, which he works on and explores through the methodology of the work of cultural institutions, evaluative practice, museum discourses, and critical knowledge, in light of displacement and emergency situations imposed for long periods of time.

Sheikh Sultan visited the exhibition "The Sonic Image" by Lawrence Abu Hamdan, curated by Omar Khalif, Senior Curator and Director of Collections at the Sharjah Art Foundation, at Al Mareijah Square.

During his tour of the exhibition, Sheikh Sultan listened to explanations about the artworks contained in the exhibition, which represent an important and profound aspect of the artist's career, Lawrence Abu Hamdan, informing Sheikh Sultan of his artistic project and what he seeks to convey to viewers and followers of his artworks.

During the tour, the Ruler of Sharjah visited the exhibition "The Companion Before the Road", evaluated by Sheikha Hoor bint Sultan Al Qasimi, at Bait Al Serkal in Arts Square.

Sheikh Sultan toured the exhibition, which includes many works of the CAMP Art Collection, founded in 2007 by Shayna Anand and Ashok Chukumaran in Mumbai, India, and who, through the exhibition, provide spatial and cultural perceptions derived from their work on history and the role of technology as an inherent geopolitical mediator.

Sheikh Sultan was briefed on the different ideas that inspired the participating artists to produce their distinguished and diverse works.

He followed up part of the artworks included in the exhibition, representing a special experience that the artists worked on, documented and implemented across several countries in Asia.

As part of the CAMP exhibition, Sheikh Sultan listened to an explanation of the artwork "Passages through Passages" (2009-2013), a film project commissioned by the Production Programme at Sharjah Art Foundation for Sharjah Biennial 11.

Sheikh Sultan was briefed on the details of the art project that revolves around the journey between three bays, which stems from the CAMP Group's interest in the life of the seas associated with Sharjah, and monitors the actual paths followed by a large number of people who traveled in a world of intimate memories that are difficult to link with nostalgia or patriotism.

As part of the Spring programme 2022, the solo exhibitions of influential artists from the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region will run from 4 March to 4 July, 2022.

WAM