Looking at the recent and current trends that have swept the Middle East, a combination of ongoing simmering tensions as well as a boom in construction and development have led to an urban landscape that is changing at an alarmingly rapid pace. In the process, history and local heritage sees itself becoming erased, and identities are in a constant state of flux. 

Those living with – and observing – these changes, are forced to ask themselves: What is retained today to be referenced tomorrow? Artists are challenged to respond to how these events are reflected to not just a global audience, but, indeed, future audiences. How can these realities be presented without falling into a clichéd view of a region already plagued by stereotypes and pre-conceived notions of endless strife, oppression and upheaval? 

It is precisely these insights into the Middle East’s untold realities that this exhibition aims to explore. As the wider geopolitics are determined from above, another layer of history is being made, in the streets and behind closed doors. The artists here seek to reflect the actual realities of those who live and struggle to maintain them. They represent the everyday and question preconceptions and misconceptions of an otherwise preconceived and misunderstood region. 

These are the subjects that artists are choosing to record. This is the today that they are saving for the future. 

The works range in media from video to photography, drawing and sculpture. 

The artists participating are Ibrahim Abumsmar (Saudi Arabia), Doa Aly (Egypt), Ayman Yossri Daydban (Palestine/Saudi Arabia), Hazem Harb (Palestine), Khaled Jarrar (Palestine), Randa Mirza (Lebanon) and Yara El-Sherbini (UK/Egypt).

Aya Haidar

Aya Haidar (b. 1985) graduated with a BA in Fine Arts from the Slade School of Fine Art in London and completed an exchange at the School of the Art Institute, Chicago. Following this, she achieved an Msc in NGOs and Development with Merit from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Haidar is a Lebanese multimedia artist whose work focuses on the use of found and recycled objects in order to create poetic works exploring loss, migration and memory. Her most recent solo exhibitions, titled Year of Issue (2014) and Behind Closed Doors (2011) were shown at the New Art Exchange, Nottingham and Bischoff Weiss Gallery, London, respectively. Her most recent group shows, Stitching Cyborgs (2014) featured works exhibited at Contemporary Arts Platform, Kuwait and A'Rebours (2014) at Bischoff Weiss Gallery, London. She has also participated in various international art fairs, namely FIAC (2009), Art Dubai (2011, 2012, 2013), MENASA (2013) and Art Istanbul (2013). Haidar also undertakes independent curatorial and art education projects, namely Tate's Illuminating Cultures programme (2010), V&A's Record, Resist, Reframe (2012) and most recently INIVA's A Place for Conversation (2014). Haidar currently lives and works in London and is represented by Athr Gallery, Jeddah. 

Ibrahim Abumsmar

An accomplished athlete who participated in many local and regional swimming competitions, Ibrahim Abumsmar (b. 1976) won numerous medals and become a national swimming champion He later pursued his interest in art and photography and undertook several courses in oil painting and portraiture, design, sculpture, photography, Arabic calligraphy as well as interior architecture at Beit Alt-Ghouri, and was a student of fine art at Helwan University in Cairo, Egypt. Abumsmar recreates everyday objects as sculptures, with the intention of questioning the essence of their identity. Manufactured objects usually have a practical purpose and are created with the intention of making everyday life easier. Abumsmar ’s sculptures challenge this perceived practicality and suggest that the objective of their creation is more symbolic than practical, and that they succeed in impacting our lives on a more subconscious emotional level. His work Cutting Edge was acquired by the Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art in 2012. Abumsmar recently had his first solo in Paris, A Saudi Artist In Paris following his artist residency at La Cites Des Arts in Paris. Ibrahim has also recently exhibited at Sphere 6 at Galleria Continua’s Le Moulin in 2013, a group show that coincided with 5 solo shows by Etel Adnan, Ai Weiwei, Anish Kapoor, Michelangelo Pistoletto and Sophie Whettnall. 

Doa Aly

Cairo-native Doa Aly (b. 1976) explores the relationships between mind and body, self and other as well as internal and external through a practice that encompasses painting, drawing and video. She attended the Faculty of Fine Arts, Helwan University, in Cairo and earned her BFA in painting in 2001. Working primarily with video and drawing, Aly traces so called “modern misfits”, characters whose actions and constant struggle for effectiveness lead to an ambiguous state. Her selected group exhibitions include Snap Judgments at The International Center of Photography, NYC, and the 7th Dakar Biennial in 2006; The Maghreb Connection, Centre d'Art Contemporain Genève, In Focus at Tate Modern, Recognize at The Contemporary Art Forum, London, Port City at the Arnolfini Museum, Bristol, in 2007; The 3rd Guangzhou Triennial, the Guangdong Museum of Art, Cairoscape at the Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien, Berlin, PhotoCairo4, in 2008; The 11th Istanbul Biennial, in 2009; The Future of Tradition at Haus Der Kunst, Munich, The 7th Busan Biennale, in 2010, Meeting Points 6 at Beirut Art Center, and Argos, Brussels, in 2011; The Ungovernables at the New Museum, NYC, New York, 2012, and Eva International 2014, Limerick city, Ireland. Aly’s most recent solo exhibitions were in 2010 at Darat Al-Funun, Amman, and the Townhouse Gallery in Cairo 2010 and 2013, and Gypsum Gallery in Cairo, 2013. 

Ayman Yossri Daydban

Ayman Yossri Daydban was born in Palestine (b. 1966), and has lived all his life in Saudi Arabia. Daydban’s oeuvre is often a reflection of his life; a life afflicted with issues of identity and belonging. Many consider his work to be political, as much of it focuses on the deconstruction of the Palestinian national narrative. However, it is in fact deeply personal and has little political agenda beyond his search for a sense of self. His last name ‘Daydban’ means watchman, a mask that observes the viewer and its surroundings while at the same time remaining detached from them. There is an unbridgeable opposition between the watchman and what is being watched: They seem to be in different worlds, while in such close proximity, producing enormous tension. Daydban has been an artist in residence at La Cites des Arts in Paris, Cuadro Fine Art Gallery and Traffic Gallery in Dubai, and currently undergoing a residency program at Ashkal Alwan, Beirut. He has participated in various group and solo exhibitions in the Arab world and internationally. His solo exhibitions include a show at Selma Feriani Gallery in London entitled Identity in January 2011, as well as one at Athr Gallery in Jeddah, entitled I am Anything, I am Everything in January 2012. Amongst the group shows are The Language of Human Consciousness at Athr Gallery, and numerous Edge of Arabia exhibitions since 2008, including the Brunei Gallery in London (2008), The Future of A Promise, Venice Biennale (2009 & 2011), Berlin (2010), Transition, Istanbul (2010), Terminal, Dubai (2011), We Need To Talk, Jeddah (2012) and again #COMETOGETHER in London (2012). Other participations include Bravery of Being out of Range at Athr Gallery in Jeddah and subsequently at Sultan Gallery in Kuwait, The State at Traffic Gallery in Dubai, Tesselation at Galerie Zilberman and The Aftermath alongside Adel Abidin and Bahar Behbehani curated by Basak Senova at Akbank Art Center in Istanbul, as well as Hajj: Journey to the Heart of Islam at the British Museum in 2012. Daydban also launched his first public art project Change on billboards across Dubai and Sharjah during Art Dubai 2013. Finally, Daydban is part of the permanent collections of the British Museum, Al-Mansouria Foundation, the Abdul Latif Jameel Foundation, BASMOCA, the Salsali Private Museum in Dubai and the Greenbox Museum in Amsterdam. He is currently undergoing his artist residency in Askhal Alwan in Beirut (2014). 

Hazem Harb

Palestinian artist and Gaza native Hazem Harb (b. 1980) currently lives between Rome, Italy and Dubai, UAE. In 2004, Harb enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome and graduated from The European Institute of Design in 2009. Harb deals with a number of core issues including war, loss, trauma, human vulnerability and global instability. He continues to explore his work multi-media by using all and every tool at his disposal. In 2011, Harb was awarded a residency at The Delfina Foundation, which was also supported by the A.M. Qattan Foundation; which awarded him the Young Artist of The Year award in 2008. Hazem’s series Beyond Memory has been acquired by The British Museum, UK in 2013. Harb has participated in numerous international exhibitions which include Made by War at the National Ethnorgraphic and Pre-historical Museum Luigi Pigorini, Rome, Italy (2007), Sphere 6 at Galleria Continua’s Le Moulin in (2013), a group show that coincided with 5 solo shows by Etel Adnan, Ai Weiwei, Anish Kapoor, Michelangelo Pistoletto and Sophie Whettnall and most recently, Hazem participated in a two-artist show titled Traces & Revelations at the University of Durham, England (2014). In 2014 Hazem opened his first solo exhibition in Saudi Arabia titled Al Baseera, and is scheduled to open a solo in Dubai at Salsali Private Museum in March, 2015. 

Khaled Jarrar

Khaled Jarrar (b. 1976) lives and works in Ramallah, Palestine and was born in Jenin. He completed his education in Interior Design at the Palestine Polytechnic University in 1996, then graduating from the International Academy of Art Palestine with a BA in Visual Arts in 2011. Jarrar rose to prominence with his 2007 exhibition At the Checkpoint, which was placed in full view of Israeli soldiers at Howarra and Qalandia checkpoint. Recent solo exhibitions include School of Fine Arts, Paris/Polaris Gallery, Paris/Gallery One, Ramallah (2014); Ayyam Gallery London (2013); Galerie Guy Bartschi, Geneva (2013); the NEWTOPIA: The State of Human Rights Contemporary Arts in Mechelen and Brussels (2012); Galerie Polaris, Paris (2012); Al-Mahatta Gallery, Ramallah (2009); Al-Mahatta Gallery, Ramallah (2007); International Academy of Art Palestine, Ramallah (2007). Recent group exhibitions and film festivals include New Museum, New York (2014); Helsinki Festival (2014); University of Applied Arts, Vienna (2014); Samsung Blue Square and Busan Museum of Art, South Korea; USF Contemporary Art Museum, Tampa (2013); The Madrid Palestine Film Festival (2013); the 15th Jakarta Biennale (2013); the 7th Berlin Biennale (2012); 52nd October Salon, Belgrade (2011); Al-Ma’mal Foundation, Jerusalem (2010); London Film Festival (2010); and the Instant Video Festival, Marseille (2009). 

Randa Mirza

Lebanese Randa Mirza (b. 1978) is a visual artist and freelance photographer, dividing her time between Beirut and Marseille. Her work has received numerous prizes, including the No Limit award at Les Rencontres Photographiques d’Arles (2006), an international prize for photographers whose work takes the medium beyond currently acknowledged boundaries. Mirza has shown her work in solo exhibitions at the Finnish Museum of Photography, Sfeir-Semler gallery (Hamburg) and Galerie Tanit (Beirut), with her most recent solo shows including On Sex and Gender, Vol de Nuits, Marseille, France (2013) and Beirutopia, Quattrocento Metri Quadri, Ancona, Italy (2012). She has exhibited within Beirut Art Center (Beirut), Moving Walls (Beirut), Phillipes de Pury (London), FIAC (Paris), Miami Basel, Armory show (NY), Art Dubai, Paris-Photo, fondazione Merz (Torino), Witte de with (Rotterdam), Raster gallery (Warsaw), Fotomuseum Winterthur (Zurich), Darat al-Funun (Amman), Aleppo international photography festival (Syria), Fotofestival Mannheim-Ludwigshafen- Heidelberg (Germany), Kunsthalle Wien (Vienna), ZKM museum (Germany). Mirza play VJ sets at Medialab Prado and Matadore Madrid within LaptopsRus and at Timitar music festival in Morocco. She regularly performs live video sets in events supporting environmental and social causes. Her work received a grant from AFAC (Arab Fund for Art and Culture), Al-Mawrid Al- Thaqafi and the Secretaria de Relaciones Exteriores de Mexico. She was artist resident at NIFCA (Nordic Institute for Contemporary Arts), HIAP (Finland) and at fondazione Bevilaqua La Masa (Venice). Mirza is also an official collaborator to the photographic agency Picturetank, a member of Vol de Nuit artistic committee and a regular collaborator to Zoukak cultural association. 

Yara El-Sherbini

Yara El-Sherbini (b. 1978) lives and works between London and California. Her playful practice spans a variety of media, ranging from sculpture, and interventions, live art, and video. She uses humour to engage audiences into questioning social and political systems of power and influence, exploring the invisible processes of knowledge production. El-Sherbini received her MA from the Slade, UCL, and her BA from the University of the West Of England. Recent artist in residency programmes and exhibitions include Wide Open School at the Hayward Gallery (UK), and The Global Contemporary at ZKM (Germany). The End Of Conflict in The Middle East was commissioned by the V&A, as part of the National Art Library’s new initiative to archive Contemporary and Modern Arab, Turkish and Iranian art and design. El-Sherbini’s work has shown at the New Art Exchange (Nottingham), LWL – Industrial Museum (Germany), Arnolfini (Bristol), ATHR Gallery (Jeddah), Modern Art Oxford, Mostyn Art Gallery, (Wales), BALTIC (Gateshead), Delfina Foundation (London), QUAD Gallery (Derby), ArtHouse (Australia), IKON Gallery (Birmingham), National Portrait Gallery (London), Tate Britain (London), Norwich Castle Museum, CCCB Museum (Barcelona), National Maritime Museum (London), Futersonic (Manchester), Sultan Gallery (Kuwait), Centre d'Art Contemporain (Geneva), Whitworth art gallery (Manchester) Battersea Arts Center (London), Palazzo Papesse (Siena), The David Roberts Art Foundation (UK), and Lombard-Fried Projects (New York). 

Kashya Hildebrand

The gallery's artists challenge pre-conceived notions of nationality and cultural identity, creating an environment in which established norms become blurred and characterisations from seemingly contrasting cultures occupy the same visual space. This juxtaposition leads to a simultaneous renunciation and acceptance of the traditional and the contemporary, creating an environment that is in constant flux. Religion, politics, nationality and culture are treated as the foundation of identity, depicted and disseminated to varying degrees. Through painting, collage, sculpture, photography and installation work the artists convey the contestations of the contemporary political landscape.