Introduction to MIDDLE EASTERN ART Unveiled in jewel-box mirages of glass and steel, or shaded in contemplative, quiet spaces, both modern galleries and long-established studios across the Middle East play host to a dazzling range of works. Art that can transport the viewer on a sweeping journey from Arabic Modernism, a movement spearheaded by Iraqi artist Dia Al-Azzawi, to the provocative visual language of emerging artists such as Syria’s Khaled Barakeh. The term ‘Middle Eastern Art’ reflects the lives and nature of communities that are constantly on the move, but whose fractal patterns of life bloom and come together again around common roots. The result? A rich strata of socially engaged and deeply personal art to be explored in this ‘Introduction’ to Middle Eastern Art. 72
I use the shape of the calligraphy to be part of the art. I don’t use it to read Arabic. It is part of identity. — Dia Al - Azzawi Khaled Barakeh’s Ink on my Hands, ink and mixed media 73
