Contributors

  • Wadha Al-Aqeedi

    Wadha Al-Aqeedi is the co-founder of Mathqaf, curator and art historian, based between Doha and Paris. From 2016 until 2020, she worked at Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha as an Assistant Curator. Presently, she is a PhD candidate at Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. Her research interests include performance and media art, cultural history and policy of the Gulf region.

    website 
  • Lara Arafeh

    Lara Arafeh is an independent art curator and researcher based in New York. Her research interests include de/colonization, the intersectionality of social and political movements historically, and art from the SWANA with a specific focus on work produced by women. She recently completed a Curatorial Fellowship at the Baltimore Museum of Art with a focus on Native American contemporary artists. She currently works with well-established artist studios assisting with archiving. She is the director of the NY Cultural Majlis. Lara is a graduate of Central Saint Martins London and received her masters from Sotheby’s Institute London.

  • Sarah Daher

    Sarah Daher is a Lebanese curator, researcher, and writer. She holds a Masters degree in Curating Contemporary Art from the Royal College of Art in London and a BA in Theater and Economics from New York University Abu Dhabi. Sarah is currently based in the UAE where she works as a curator and writer. Her most recent shows include After the Beep held at Satellite on Alserkal Avenue in Dubai and Fulfilment Services Ltd in collaboration with Gasworks London. She is the founder and co-host of ‘Khosh Bosh with Anita and Sarah’, a conversational podcast platforming the work of UAE-based creatives. Sarah currently works with Alserkal Advisory, the strategic and consulting arm of the larger Alserkal Initiatives.

    Website 
  • Elina Sairanen

    Elina Sairanen is a museologist, art historian and the co-founder of Mathqaf. Currently, she's pursuing a PhD in museology at the University of Leicester exploring the region's first pan-Arab art museums. When she is not writing or thinking about museums and art, you can find her in the countryside skiing and hiking.

    website 
  • Afnan Al-Yafaey

    Afnan Al-Yafaey is a researcher and curator who focuses on the GCC and Japan.

    She currently holds a BA in Psychology, with a double minor in Journalism and Japanese Studies from The New School, and a MA in Near Eastern Studies from New York University. Her work focuses on exploring modern art in the context of GCC nationalism and continuously delves into contemporary connections between the GCC and Japan.

  • Beth Derderian

    Beth Derderian is an anthropologist who studies art worlds. She holds a PhD in anthropology (Northwestern University) and an MA in Near Eastern & Museum Studies (NYU). She is currently an assistant professor at the College of Wooster. Her writing has appeared in Museum Anthropology, Hawwa: Journal of Women & The Middle East, Ibraaz, Canvas, Jadaliyya, and MERIP.

  • Cristiana de Marchi

    Cristiana de Marchi is an Italian-Lebanese visual artist and writer who lives and works in Dubai. 

    She received her MFA with honours in Archaeology from The University of Turin, Italy and she is currently a PhD candidate in the Artistic Research Programme at the University of applied Arts, Vienna. 

    Cristiana explores (through performance, video, and textile installations) issues related to cultural identity, social inequalities, and environmental justice, by investigating the contradiction between legality and justice.

    Besides her artistic practice, Cristiana conducts a curatorial research and contributes articles and essays to catalogues and magazines devoted to contemporary art. 

  • Megan Macnaughton

    Megan Macnaughton is an art professional and independent writer and curator based in Paris, France. She holds a BA in History of Art from the University of Bristol and an MPhil in Cultural Studies from the University of Cambridge. Her research focuses on historically overlooked female artists as well as emerging visual practices and the use of traditional craft techniques today. Attentive to the socio-political implications of transnational cultural exchanges, she has written extensively about Latin American performance and cinema (specifically under dictatorships), memory politics, and the ties between ecology and feminism in contemporary art. She has worked in various institutions internationally such as Museo de Arte Contemporaneo (Buenos Aires), Arnolfini (Bristol), Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson (Paris), and commercial galleries including Erna Hecey (Luxembourg) and Mennour (Paris).

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