Abu Dhabi: Muneera Al Sayegh, 26, a programme officer for Abu Dhabi’s Guggenheim Museum, believes that the UAE’s multicultural society is helping the art scene in the country transform and respond to its diversity.
“I work in an office where I hear Arabic, English, French, Italian, Urdu and more. Not everyone gets to have that viewpoint. It’s an important viewpoint,” says Muneera, who also believes that it is a blessing to be born in the UAE. “Nowhere else in the world are three [iconic] museums opening, [as a result of which] you get to be on the bandwagon from the get-go,” she says.
She is clear that the term ‘Emirati artist’ must not in any way “box” the creative minds into labelling. “Being an Emirati, you are immediately a global citizen. [You are] immediately someone who is responding to things outside the Emirates as well as responding to things inside it. That’s the nature of the landscape we live in,” she says.
The UAE, she says, has had a “rich history with rich traditions and cultures” and arts since the beginning even if it was not celebrated so widely as it is now.
She has been involved in the art world in one form or another since she can remember. Her latest project has been working as assistant curator to one of the emirate’s largest exhibitions, Emirati Expressions, part of the Abu Dhabi Art fair.
She admits to being inspired by her surroundings when she is curating which she says usually has a lot to do with the idea of identity. “I think anything that I believe in appears in my work.”
Saeed Al Madani, a 29-year-old Emirati artist residing in Abu Dhabi, held his first exhibition in 2008 and has been involved in the art scene ever since. His work is influenced by his Emirati culture but it is not what he would describe as pure Emirati art, he says. In his view, Emirati art would include calligraphy and symbols, which his art does not reflect.
“The UAE has many nationalities we interact with and the arts are influenced by this interaction,” he says. “To be an Emirati is to accept and understand other cultures and this is reflected in my work.”
He believes the UAE government is investing heavily in the infrastructure for arts. “We are getting a lot of support in terms of [art] platforms for us to interact with other artists and opportunities to develop and exhibit our work.” Apart from this, there are many programmes and courses available for emerging artists, he says, and he feels fortunate to have access to the facilities.
Zeinab Al Hashemi, 29, another emerging Dubai-based Emirati artist, is in sync with Saeed’s views on the UAE’s support for artists.
“I decided to become a full-time artist a year ago and if it wasn’t for the support [of the UAE government], I would not have been able to do it,” she says.
Zeinab said she received support from a range of organisations who helped her exhibit and travel on “eye-opening” educational trips abroad.
A conceptual artist whose work primarily consists of installations and modern sculptures, she has worked with a range of artisans, craftsmen and, more recently, labourers to create her pieces, some of which include fish-trap makers, rope makers and even ship and dhow makers.
“What’s important to me is that my pieces are made in my city and in my country,” she explains.
Although having her art made in the region can be a challenge, she is of the firm belief that it is important to make them here “to create a platform for more possibilities for art” in the UAE.
“It creates a market for people [when there are] manufacturing outlets for such objects and art works,” she says.
A lot of her work, Zeinab says, has been inspired by construction, a salient feature in Dubai’s transformation which she has tried to document through her art.
“Art is a form of documenting. All types of expression in arts are documentation. They can be personal or on a bigger scale. It just happens that my art is on a bigger scale.”
Zeinab’s work has been selected to be included in the Zayed National Museum, one of the three upcoming museums in Abu Dhabi, and she hopes to play a bigger role in the art movement. “I would like to not just make art but also to educate and inspire the younger generation.”
