About
Founded in 2021 by Océane Sailly, Hunna Art is an independent contemporary art gallery championing a new generation of women artists based in or from the Arabian Peninsula. Tackling questions of power, of gender, of the history of the Arabian Peninsula, of social relations and of youth culture, Hunna Art’s artists are developing cutting edge visual languages and researches that explore through art historical, social and political narratives as well as dominant representations and subjectivities and personal experiences.
Hunna Art was born out of the observation that regional artists were underrepresented in the local art markets and on the international stage, as well as out of a genuine appreciation and scholarly knowledge of the richness and depth of the Arabian Peninsula's contemporary art scenes, and a strong commitment to fight the underrepresentation and lack of visibility of women artists and professionals in the global art world. Hunna Art represents a carefully curated roster of fifteen artists who are among the most talented of their generation and regularly invites emerging art critics and curators to collaborate, hence creating an international network composed of the new generation of art professionals while offering new and critical perspectives on the artists’s practices.
Hunna Art has managed within two years to position itself as a pivotal gallery for women artists from the Arabian Peninsula, to organize numerous exhibitions in partnerships with art venues and to establish collaborations with several platforms and artist residencies abroad (in Kuwait, France, the UK and the US).
Hunna Art has been featured in numerous magazines and platforms such as The Art Newspaper, Diptyk, Fisheye Magazine, Vogue Arabia, Mathqaf, Middle East Monitor, Gulf Today, The New Arab, L'Orient Le Jour, Le Quotidien de l'Art, The National, Time Out Dubai, and others. Our artist's works are part of prominent private and institutional collections in the Arab world and in Europe.
Team
Océane Sailly - Founder and Director
Océane Sailly is a curator, cultural entrepreneur, and scholar from France and based in the UAE. She is the Founder and Director of Hunna Art, a contemporary art gallery representing women artists from the Arabian Peninsula. Hunna Art was born out of a genuine appreciation and scholarly knowledge of the richness and depth of the Arabian Peninsula's contemporary art scenes and with the aim to support these new voices of contemporary art at local, regional and international levels while promoting artistic, cultural and intellectual circulations between the Gulf and the rest of the world.
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In 2023, Sailly was appointed the Director of the Failaka Institute for Knowledge and Arts Research (FIKAR), a non-profit organization operating as a think-tank and an artistic production platform focused on ushering new narratives, forms of research, expressions, and experiments in response to contemporary global issues.
Prior to Hunna Art and FIKAR, Sailly co-founded Hors-Cadre (France), a contemporary art gallery focusing on emerging French artists, and worked as a Cultural Officer in the Emirati-French Cultural Program - Dialogue with Louvre Abu Dhabi (PCFE) at the French Ministry of Culture / Institut français (Paris).
Océane Sailly is also an independent researcher who explores French Cultural Diplomacy, for which she has been awarded a three-year full doctoral scholarship from the Sorbonne Nouvelle and a two-year field scholarship by the French Research Centre of the Arabian Peninsula (CEFREPA), and Contemporary Art in the Arabian Peninsula. Her research has been presented in numerous publications, conferences and lectures including at American University of Kuwait, Centre Français de Recherche de la Péninsule Arabique, Institut Catholique de Paris, Institut de Recherche et d'études Méditerranées Moyen-Orient, Institut du Monde Arabe, Louvre Abu Dhabi, Musée national des arts et métiers, Paris VIII University, Sorbonne Paris University, and School of Oriental and African Studies Amon others. She is also part of a transnational research group led by Pr. Alain Quemin and Pr. Kathryn Brown, on inequalities in the contemporary art world.
In 2023, Océane Sailly received the MIA Art Collection Award for her contribution to women artists' visibility, support, and representation.
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Megan Vogel - Assistant Director of Hunna Art and America regional strategy
Megan Vogel serves as Assistant Director of Hunna Art and America regional strategy. Megan holds a B.A. in International Studies and Arabic from American University in Washington, D.C., where she is currently based. Her multicultural background and thematic and geographical studies have influenced her interest in bringing awareness to female artists from the SWANA region.
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Before working at Hunna Art, Megan was a Case Manager assisting newly arriving refugees in Maryland, USA. She held multiple internship positions with the Middle East Institute (D.C.), the Embassy of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in Washington, D.C., and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Such prior experiences allow Megan to analyze and appreciate art in unique and complex ways.