Misk Art Institute launches Imprint exhibition of Saudi and Gulf art
October 25, 2020 - Muhammad Yusuf, Features Writer_ Gulf Today
Misk Art Institute (MAI), under the auspices of the Misk Foundation established by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, has launched Imprint, a photography, film and digital exhibition (Oct. 4, 2020 — Jan. 28, 2021).
Curated by Latifa Abdul Rahman Al Khalifa and featuring the works of 17 Saudi and Gulf artists, the show is being held at Prince Faisal bin Fahd Fine Arts Gallery (or Masaha, meaning ‘space’ in Arabic), established in 1985 in Riyadh as a governmental hall dedicated to fine arts. It was renovated by MAI and reopened in 2019.
IMPRINT: RE-IMAGINING IDENTITY
Photography and Digital ExhibitionThe concept of identity is complex and layered, especially when attributed to the Arabian Peninsula and its Gulf. The people who live in the Gulf Cooperative Council (GCC) countries are the descendants of ages of civilizations whose footprints and maritime trade merged to a variety of languages, religions and ideologies.
The core of this exhibition Imprint is to invite artists based in Saudi Arabia and its neighboring GCC countries to explore their definition of identity in the form of photography, film and digital artworks. The image is a vessel that interprets both space and time, as well as encapsulating moments that are an extension of oneself. As producers and consumers of their image, participating artists can shift the gaze from the politics, oil-wealth and religion attributed to the Gulf, and instead offer new and personal narratives.