Speaking of Art

May 15 2024 12 ep. 21 mins 1
Speaking of Art Podcast artwork

Speaking of Art, the official podcast of Sharjah Art Foundation, brings together a diverse range of perspectives on contemporary art from Asia, Africa and around the world. Hosted by Hoor Al Qasimi, Director of the Foundation, the show features in-depth conversations with some of the most prominent artists and curators practising today, exploring the impact of their work on our current moment as well as its historical significance. Subscribe to Speaking of Art and enjoy greater insight into artists’ practices and our exhibitions from anywhere in the world.

For more information about all our exhibitions and programmes, please visit our website or follow us on Instagram @sharjahart. 

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Episode 12: Backstory: Volcanique (1985) by Mohamed Melehi

May 15 2024 7 mins  
Morad Montazami elaborates on the significance of Volcanique (1985) by Mohamed Melehi, and explains how the artwork manifests the ethos of Casablanca Art School through its mateirality, its imagery and its context. Backstory is available in both audio and video formats. To view this episode in video, click here. CREDITS Host Morad Montazami Artwork Mohamed Melehi, Volcanique

Episode 11: Casablanca Art School: The Making of an Artistic Revolution

Mar 25 2024 33 mins  
What role have artists played in dismantling colonial infrastructures? In what ways have they contributed to creating new platforms in the postcolonial era? What can we learn about forging solidarities through art from past generations? In this episode, Hoor Al Qasimi speaks with Morad Montazami, who co-curated The Casablanca Art School: Platforms and Patterns for a Postcolonial Av

Episode 10: Backstory: River In An Ocean: 6 (1993)

Mar 10 2024 7 mins  
Join Natasha Ginwala as she explores one of Lala Rukh’s works from her iconic series, River In An Ocean, and how it captures the diverse rhythms of life and landscape with a minimalist vocabulary of lines, symbols and blackness. Backstory is available in both audio and video formats. To view this episode in video, click here. CREDITS Host: Natasha Ginwala Artwork: River In An Oce

Episode 09: Lala Rukh: The Known and the Unknown

Feb 24 2024 48 mins  
Lala Rukh was one of the most significant artists of her generation. Her practice encompassed drawing, printmaking, photography and video, developed against the backdrop of political turmoil and feminist movements in Pakistan. Yet, despite her expansive four-decade artistic, pedagogical and political career that has influenced generations in Pakistan and beyond, she has remained an

Episode 08: Backstory: Untitled (2023)

Feb 11 2024 7 mins  
Join Elizabeth Giorgis as she tells us about some of the symbols and imagery that appear in Melkamzer’s paintings, such as faces, vines, suns and moons, to gain insight into reading telsem. Backstory is available in both audio and video formats. To view this episode in video, click here. CREDITS Host: Elizabeth Giorgis Artwork: Untitled (year) by Henok Melkamzer. Producers: Jyo

Episode 07: Henok Melkamzer: Telsem, Tradition and Modernity

Jan 28 2024 28 mins  
How do artistic practices traverse across generations? How do they continue to address critical conditions in our present moment? In our latest episode, Hoor Al Qasimi speaks with curator Elizabeth Giorgis about the work of artist Henok Melkamzer, one of the most prolific practitioners of the Ethiopian art form called telsem. Melkamzer talks to Giorgis about his journey and process

Episode 06: Backstory: Untitled (1990)

Jan 14 2024 6 mins  
In this episode of Backstory, curator and art historian Salah Hassan elaborates on the historical significance of Untitled (1990), a painting by Gavin Jantjes, and how it contributes to the discourse and representation of African and African Diaspora art. Backstory is available in both audio and video formats. To view this episode in video, click here. CREDITS Host: Salah M Has

Episode 05: Gavin Jantjes: Agent of Change

Dec 31 2023 42 mins  
What does a sustained engagement with art and activism allow for? How can radical cultural practice forge solidarities across different communities, geographies and temporalities? Join Hoor Al Qasimi in conversation with curator Salah M. Hassan and artist Gavin Jantjes on the occasion of ‘To Be Free! A Retrospective 1970–2023’. Together, the guests explore the artist’s five

Episode 04: Backstory: Zanzibar

Dec 17 2023 7 mins  
Join curator Omar Kholeif as he walks us through the formal and contextual dimensions of a newly imagined presentation of ‘Zanzibar’ (1998–2023), a series of paintings by Lubaina Himid situated within a distinct sound installation created in collaboration with Magda Stawarska. Backstory is available in both audio and video formats. To watch the video on YouTube, click here. C

Episode 03: Lubaina Himid and Magda Stawarska: Synchronicities

Dec 17 2023 31 mins  
How do visual and sonic forms shape our understanding of a place? How do memories unfold when we encounter these forms in new configurations? In this episode, Hoor Al Qasimi speaks with Turner Prize winning artist Lubaina Himid and Magda Stawarska, known for her practice of ‘inner listening’, about their long-standing collaborative practice. Together, they discuss concepts of r