Episode 04: Backstory: Zanzibar

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 (1985)  Editorial and Content Producers  Jyoti Dhar, Kamayani Sharma, Mahshid Rafiei  Multimedia Producers  Dima Bittard, Ward Helal, Shafeek Nalakath Kareem, Unnikrishnan Suresh, Magdi Tawfig  Special Thanks  May Alqaydi, Nawar Al Qassimi  © Sharjah Art Foundation, 2024   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 Avant-Garde (1962–1987) with Madeleine de Colnet, about the artistic revolution that followed Morrocan independence in 1956. They discuss the transformation of Casablanca Art School and the efforts towards cultural decolonisation led by Farid Belkahia, Mohammed Chabâa, Bert Flint, Toni (Antonella) Maraini and Mohamed Melehi. Tune in to hear about the story of the Moroccan ‘new wave’ that triggered a new social movement and contributed to artistic solidarities between Latin America, West Asia and Africa.      CREDITS  Host: Hoor Al Qasimi  Guest: Morad Montazami  Editorial and Content Producers: Jyoti Dhar, Kamayani Sharma, Mahshid Rafiei  Sound Producer and Editor: Basil Kisswani  Music and Sound: Luc Allieres, Café da Mañha, 2021 Special Thanks: Nawar Al Qassimi. May Alqaydi, Dima Bittard, Unnikrishnaan Suresh, Ward Helal, Hasan Hujairi, Asad SiddiqueSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 Ocean: 6 (1993) and Moonscape (2010 / 2012) by Lala Rukh Producers: Jyoti Dhar, Kamayani Sharma and Mahshid Rafiei. Film and Multimedia: Dima Bittard, Unnikrishnan Suresh, Ward Helal, Shafeek Nalakath Kareem, and Magdi Tawfig. Special Thanks: Nawar Al Qassimi, Umer Butt, Elaine Lubguban and Mahmoud El Safadi. © Sharjah Art Foundation, 2024See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 enigmatic figure. Join Hoor Al Qasimi and Natasha Ginwala, curators of the exhibition In The Round, the first major survey of works by Lala Rukh that includes rarely seen drawings and installations as well as extensive archival material, as they explore the impact that she has had on the lives and works of her peers and students. Tune in to hear insights from those that were closest to her, including Umer Butt, Mariah Lookman and Maryam Rahman, as they share what Lala Rukh meant to them as an artist, an educator and a friend.   CREDITS Host: Hoor Al Qasimi Guests: Natasha Ginwala, Umer Butt, Mariah Lookman, and Maryam Rahman. Producers: Jyoti Dhar, Kamayani Sharma and Mahshid Rafiei. Sound Producer: Basil Kisswani. Sound Editors: Basil Kisswani and Kamayani Sharma. Music and Sound: All Pakistan Music Archive and Grey Noise Gallery, Dubai. Rasoolan Bai, Dadra, 1961; Roshan Ara Begum, speech, 1960; Roshan Ara Begum, Khamaj, 1960; Sadiq Ali Mando, Clarinet, 1961; Zahida Parveen, Tilang Bahar, 1961.  Special Thanks: Nawar Al Qassimi, Mahmoud El Safadi, Hasan Hujairi, Asad Siddique, Dima Bittard, Ward Helal, and Shafeek Nalakath.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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: Jyoti Dhar, Kamayani Sharma and Mahshid Rafiei. Film and Multimedia: Dima Bittard, Unnikrishnan Suresh, Ward Helal, Shafeek Nalakath Kareem, and Magdi Tawfig. Special thanks: Nawar Al Qassimi © Sharjah Art Foundation, 2023See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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. Drawing from astrology, religion and spirituality, telsem interweaves symbols, drawings and texts imbued with spiritual and philosophical significance. Tune in to hear about how this art form is also an intellectual tradition that has been shaped throughout the ages by the sociopolitical and cultural histories of Ethiopia, and how contemporary artists like Melkamzer challenge Western conceptions of modernism through telsem.   CREDITS Host: Hoor Al Qasimi Guests: Elizabeth Giorgis and Henok Melkamzer. Producers: Jyoti Dhar, Kamayani Sharma and Mahshid Rafiei. Sound Producer: Basil Kisswani. Sound Editors: Basil Kisswani and Kamayani Sharma. Music and Sound: Courtesy of Girum Mezmur and Asserate Bossena, Performance at the Africa Institute, March 2023 Special Thanks: Nawar Al Qassimi, Amal Al Ali, Hanna Teshome and Dawit Habeshas.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 Hassan.  Artwork: Untitled  (1990) by Gavin Janjtes. Producers: Jyoti Dhar, Kamayani Sharma and Mahshid Rafiei. Film and Multimedia: Dima Bittard, Unnikrishnan Suresh, Ward Helal, Shafeek Nalakath Kareem, and Magdi Tawfig. Special Thanks: Nawar Al Qassimi and Carmen Hassan.   © Sharjah Art Foundation, 2023  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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-decade practice committed to furthering Black liberation––whether it be through direct action in anti-apartheid struggles in South Africa, artistic contributions to postcolonial movements or by foregrounding the contemporary legacies of slavery. Tune in to hear insights into the multifaceted journey of Jantjes, as he tells us how he continually challenged expectations of Black creativity through his work as a painter, printmaker, writer, curator and activist.   CREDITS Host: Hoor Al Qasimi Guests: Salah M. Hassan, Gavin Jantjes Editorial and Content Producers: Jyoti Dhar, Kamayani Sharma, Mahshid Rafiei Sound Producer and Editor: Basil Kisswani Music: Abdullah Ibrahim, The Wedding (1978) C: Abdullah Ibrahim© Edition Abdullah Ibrahim Ekapa  Special Thanks: Nawar Al Qassimi, Carmen Hassan, Asad Siddique, Dima Abou ZannadSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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. CREDITS Host Omar Kholeif Artwork Lubaina Himid and Magda Stawarska, Zanzibar (1998–2023) Editorial and Content Producers Jyoti Dhar, Kamayani Sharma, Mahshid Rafiei Multimedia Producers Dima Bittard, Ward Helal, Shafeek Nalakath Kareem, Unnikrishnan Suresh, Magdi Tawfig Special Thanks Nawar Al Qassimi, Zeina Kattan, Souraya Talal Kreidieh © Sharjah Art Foundation, 2023See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 restlessness, belonging and recognition evoked by the sea, as well as the sounds and images it carries. Tune in to hear more about Himid and Stawarska’s creative process and  how presenting their work in Sharjah has revealed new layers of meaning within it.   CREDITS Host: Hoor Al Qasimi Guests: Lubaina Himid, Magda Stawarska, Omar Kholeif Editorial and Content Producers: Jyoti Dhar, Kamayani Sharma, Mahshid Rafiei Sound Producer and Editor: Basil Kisswani Artworks: Lubaina Himid and Magda Stawarska, Zanzibar (1998–2023); Magda Stawarska, Plan B (2017–2018) and Lost and Found (2023) Special Thanks: Nawar Al Qassimi, Hasan Hujairi, Zeina Kattan, Souraya Talal Kreidieh, Asad SiddiqueSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.