Mid East Art is a digital storytelling platform of art and culture of the Middle East region. Founded and run by Suzy Sikorski, MEA acts as both an archival reference to document and analyze the regional modern art scenes, and a digital periodical of current artists and contemporary practices within and across the Diaspora. Its content is displayed through curated series, showcased in essays, video and text interviews, published articles and its Instagram @mideastart that includes informative posts and engaging stories.
As part of a larger need to continue art historical analysis and critique of the Middle Eastern art scene, MEA documents new art collectives while also paying homage to the foundations of established pioneer scenes in Baghdad, Damascus, Cairo and Beirut, among others. The platform’s overarching emphasis seeks not only to contextualize the contemporary within modern art history, but also in bridging both Western and Middle Eastern audiences within global art historical discourse. Just as MEA narrates the wider Middle East region in its modern art history coverage, at present it largely focuses on the contemporary scene in the Arabian Gulf as it is run out of Dubai and continues to expand. This is made in part by the founder’s extensive research within the Gulf region—Suzy’s scholarship studies initially focused on the pioneer artists of the United Arab Emirates.
Suzy Sikorski is currently specializing in modern art history of the Arabian Gulf region. Originally from New York, she lives in Dubai where she continues to enjoy photography and creative writing, equipped with a passion to share stories of the regional cultural scene. She received a Fulbright Scholarship to the UAE in 2016-2017 and is currently a Junior Specialist at Christie's in their Middle Eastern Modern & Contemporary art department, working alongside a dedicated team intent on internationalizing the regional market.
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Illustration: Emirates Fine Arts Society, Sharjah, 1984. Originally published in Al Tashkeel 17 (2004). Courtesy of Emirates Fine Art Society.