About
Founded in 2021 by Océane Sailly, Hunna Art is a contemporary art gallery representing women artists based in 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.
Hunna Art aims to contribute to the vibrant art ecosystem of the region while amplifying the voices and visibility of women artists and art professionals through collaborations, exhibitions, fairs participation and publications. Since our launch, we have collaborated with Centre Pompidou (France), Soho House (UK), Virginia Commonwealth University (Qatar & US), Dubai Culture and Maraya Art Centre, MIA Art Collection, Foundry Downtown, Firetti Contemporary and Raffles The Palm (UAE). We also invited art critics and curators such as Wadha Al-Aqeedi, Lara Arafeh, Afnan Al-Yafaey, Madeleine Pollard, Beth Derderian, Juliette Lecorne, Ingrid Luquet-Gad and Elina Sairanen to collaborate with us, hence creating an international network composed of the new generation of art professionals while offering new and critical perspectives on our artists' practices. In addition, we have been working toward supporting the advancement of the artist's international career by collaborating with galleries and art residencies, such as the Claude Monet residency in France. In 2022, Hunna Art has partnered with a research center based in Kuwait to lead a scholar programme on Contemporary Art in the Arabian Peninsula which will start in 2023.
Initially launched online, Hunna Art has organized and co-organized the following five exhibitions in the first semester of 2022 in Dubai:
- "When I Desire You A Part Of Me Is Gone’, a solo show by Aidha Badr at Alserkal Avenue
- "Eyes Wide Shut", a group show at Firetti contemporary
- "Serendipity", a group show at Al Safa Library in collaboration with Dubai Culture and Mia Art Collection
- “I Saw Time Passing (I)”, a solo show by Alia Zaal at Foundry Downtown
- "Pathways", a group show at Raffles The Palm.
In 2023, Hunna Art will participate in MENART fair (February, Brussels) and Art Dubai (March, Dubai) and will collaborate with renowned galleries and institutions in the UAE, UK, Saudi Arabia, France and India to further the representation of women artists while diffusing our artists’ work regionally and internationally.
Hunna Art has been featured in numerous magazines and platforms such as Mathqaf, Middle East Monitor, Gulf Today, The National, Time Out Dubai, and others. Our artist's works are part of prominent private and institutional collections in Europe and in the Arabian Peninsula.
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.
More
Prior to founding Hunna Art, Océane Sailly co-founded Hors-Cadre (France), a contemporary art gallery focusing on emerging artists based in France. For Hors-Cadre, she created several exhibitions in France and abroad (Lithuania, Russia, and Kuwait) ad participated in numerous art fairs. Among other institutional experiences, Océane Sailly was notably employed for three years by French Ministry of Culture as a Cultural Officer for “Emirati-French Cultural Program - Dialogue with Louvre Abu Dhabi” (PCFE). Bringing together renowned artists and institutions from both countries, the PCFE was a highly successful program for which five big-scale projects were implemented, notably the opening of the Louvre Abu Dhabi by Groupe F and » Co-Lab », a contemporary art exhibition in the Louvre Abu Dhabi.
In parallel to her professional activities, Océane Sailly is currently finishing a PhD at Sorbonne University (Paris) focusing on French cultural diplomacy’s history and practices in GCC countries. She has been awarded a three years full doctoral scholarship from the Sorbonne and a two years field scholarship by the French Research Centre of the Arabian Peninsula (CEFREPA). She has been living in Kuwait between 2018 and 2020 and travelled extensively in all the Gulf. She holds a Bachelor in International relations and a Master degree in Management and Direction of cultural institutions and is currently involved in one research project in which an international team of researchers studies inequalities in the international art world. In 2022, she was also named head of a research project on Contemporary Art in the Arabian Peninsula by the CEFREPA, a regional project that will gather researchers, practitioners and several cultural institutions in the coming years.
Collapsible content
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.
More
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.