This article appeared in The Artistic Unity Issue #67 which was dedicated to the art scene in the UAE in which we unravel the threads of unity by exploring the perspectives of various stakeholders within the UAE’s art community. Through insightful interviews with galleries, art institutions, and auction houses, a vivid mosaic emerged, depicting how unity has been woven into the fabric of the art scene.
Can you share your journey into bringing art to the UAE? How did it start, what inspired you to do so and what were the challenges?
With Moncef Msakni, who founded Elmarsa Gallery 30 years ago in 1994 in Tunis, we began presenting art and artists mainly from Tunisia and North Africa at the first editions of Art Dubai and Abu Dhabi Art, which were both launched in 2007. These art fairs became a regular yearly rendezvous to show and promote abroad the work of artists represented by the gallery. Throughout the years, our presence in the UAE, mainly Dubai and Abu Dhabi, has greatly contributed to bringing greater visibility to these artists on the international market. Achieving this visibility is the result of the combined efforts of artists, patrons, collectors, art magazines, etc., who engaged in the development of art distribution in the UAE and across the MENA region.
To continue our expansion across the continents, we then opened a branch in 2015 at Alserkal Avenue in Dubai to bring our artists to the UAE. It is a vibrant country and its fast urban development has contributed to an increasing demand in the arts too. Concurrently, we have continued to participate in international art fairs in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Paris, Marrakesh, Miami, London and New York to reach out to an international audience.
Capable of reinventing itself, the UAE is also marked by its fast-growing economy and urban development, where the crossroads of cultures and artistic endeavours naturally attract the public’s curiosity and involvement. However, its art scene is dependent on a still emerging market, locally and regionally. While artists both established and emerging from North Africa and the Middle East have a growing market in the region, they have yet to gain international recognition, mainly through the hubs such as Europe and the United States.
Which artists were the primary focus of your efforts? Did your choice change over time?
We carry a long-held tradition of exhibiting Modern and Contemporary art from North Africa, as we have introduced the work of important Tunisian figures of Modern art, from pioneers including Yahia Turki (1902-1969), Aly Ben Salem (1910-2001), Ammar Farhat (1911-1987) and Hatim Elmekki (1918-2003), along with artists like Nejib Belkhodja (1933-2007), Nja Mahdaoui (b. 1937), Abderrazak Sahli (1941-2009), Rafik El Kamel (1944-2021), Gouider Triki (b.1949) and Khaled Ben Slimane (b. 1951), as well as Contemporary artists including Halim Karabibene (b. 1961), Asma M’Naouar (b. 1965), Emna Masmoudi (b. 1965), Feryel Lakhdar (b. 1965) and Rym Karoui (b. 1965), with the younger generation of artists at the time including Nabil Saouabi, Mouna Karray, Omar Bey, Thameur Mejri, Atef Maatallah…
Also major Algerian artists including Mahjoub Ben Bella (1946-2020), Rachid Koraichi (b. 1947) and Modernists Abdelkader Guermaz (1919-1996), Baya Mahieddine (1931-1998), Abdallah Benanteur (1931- 2017), Mohammed Khadda (1930-1991) and M’Hammed Issiakhem (1928-1985), along with younger artists such as Nadia Benbouta and Thilleli Rahmoun; Moroccan artists including Hassan El Glaoui (1923-2018), Farid Belkahia (1934-2014), Fouad Bellamine (b.1950), Mohamed Rachdi and Lamia Naji…; and Egyptian Modern artists including Adam Henein and Inji Aflatoun.
Along with the other artists from Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia that we have been presenting over the years, these artists have been identified with their own visual language in a wide range of mediums, from painting, drawing and sculpture to photography. They engaged with their individual social landscapes and cultural context rooted in their Amazigh, Berber and Islamic arts heritage that had an important influence on them while consciously maintaining a relation to Modernism and the aesthetic codes and practices of Western contemporary art.
Could you outline the key elements of your gallery programme and how it evolved?
The gallery’s long-held tradition of exhibiting Modern and Contemporary art from North Africa within a wide array of distinct and multi-disciplinary practices continues through its rich and diverse exhibition programme. The selection of artists spans from the mid-20th century to today and offers a perspective on the development of the arts from the Maghreb and beyond, by shedding light on how this particular chapter fits into the wider art history. While working in their respective visual languages and unique mixed media practices, as well as belonging to distinct generations, these artists share a passionate and intellectual engagement in defining their individual and artistic identity through the rich and varied influences from their Mediterranean, African and Arab heritage. The gallery continues to support, present and promote art production through a vast selection of Modern and Contemporary artists by presenting them outside of their geographical context. Furthermore, Elmarsa gallery continues to promote the great diversity of practices and points of view of those artists that we have been carrying out for two decades: supporting the artists we believe in and working with them in close collaboration, designing projects with UAE institutional players and contributing to bring visibility to these artistic scenes on the art market and in international reviews.
In what ways has this endeavour played a role in nurturing the art scene in the UAE?
In a way, we can say that our presence in the UAE over a decade and a half has contributed to introducing North African artists and their protagonists to the art scene in the UAE and the region, in addition to providing another reading of art history over the past few decades by reconsidering the scope of work of certain historical artists originating from North Africa and the Middle East, particularly with regard to their influence on Western art.
Can you provide an overview of the current state-of-the-art scene in the UAE?
The current state-of-the-art scene in the UAE reflects the transnational spirit of self-determination that animates the MENASA region as it undergoes development. Yet, the UAE art scene is growing into an exceptionally wide array of intersecting cultures through both contemporary practices and transnational perspectives.
What are your expectations regarding the evolution of the art scene in the UAE over the next two decades?
The construction of a diverse cultural environment and transnational representation of art in the UAE is clearly developing through an ecosystem surrounding its cosmopolitan society and cultural histories. The development of the very specific educational environment surrounding not only art schools but also art institutions is also fundamental. The UAE aims to become a major landmark as it selectively allows for cultural creation, production, distribution, archiving and education, which will in this respect attract an international public of artists, collectors and art institutions, away from the jet-setting stereotype that crisscrosses the world to art fairs, biennials and international exhibitions.
About Lilia Ben Salah
Lilia Ben Salah, co-founder of Elmarsa Gallery, has significantly influenced the UAE’s art scene for over 15 years, introducing North African artists, reshaping art history narratives, and contributing to the cosmopolitan growth of the nation’s vibrant arts community.
