1. Harper’s BAZAAR Arabia Qatar Special |55
imagescourtesyofhayaal-khalifa
talkingpointThe
uch has been written
about the recent art
boom in the Middle
East and the Arabian
Gulf in particular,
with the rise of mega-
museums designed by
star architects, important works acquired at
auctions, and exhibitions showcasing world
renowned artists for the first time in the region.
In light of such developments, one could be
forgiven for assuming the Gulf was a cultural
wasteland for the better part of the 20th
century. It is a conversation Doha-based
Bahraini artist Hala Al-Khalifa is eager to
engagein,whileshatteringafewmisconceptions
along the way.
“The Middle East’s engagement with
modern art stretches back to the beginning of
the last century, with the establishment of art
academies in Cairo, Beirut, and Damascus.
Many of those graduates even went on to study
M
ART QUEST
A self-confessed product of both the east and west,
Doha-based Bahraini artist Hala Al-Khalifa describes
her work as an “ongoing journey of discovery.”
54|Harper’s BAZAAR Arabia Qatar Special
in Europe,” says Hala,
noting that in the Arabian
Gulf, Baghdad emerged as
a cultural centre. “During
the 1930s, the city boasted
a cosmopolitan mix of ethnic
groups and religions that
produced noted writers,
poets, musicians and artists.
In fact, many artists and
writers from the Gulf region
studied in Baghdad and
visited it frequently. Its
influence continued up until
the 1970s,” explains the
artist, who was exposed to
this rich past early on in her
childhood.
Born in London and raised
in Bahrain, Hala attributes her early
appreciation for the arts to masterpieces that
hung on the walls of her childhood home.
“The house I grew up in was filled with
contemporary Arab art, created by pioneers
who shaped the region’s art scene from Iraq,
Syria, Egypt and Bahrain. Looking back it was
an amazing environment to grow up in,
surrounded by these big names that would
later influence me as an artist,” recalls Hala,
who retained many of those memories when
she left Bahrain to attend art school in the
United States. “Although we learnt about art
from around the world, I was a little
disappointed that the university I attended
didn’t offer courses addressing art in the Middle
East. So each time I was assigned a paper,
I made it a point to write about an artist from
the Arab World,” confides Hala, who believes
it’s important for emerging artists in the Gulf
to understand this legacy in order to innovate.
“We need to make this history accessible to
a new generation,” observes the artist, who
notes that it’s also important to consider the
means by which that history is conveyed today.
“Unfortunately, books aren’t as popular with
younger generations, so how do we engage
them in ways that offer quick access to
information and images. It’s easy to follow
popular trends in art, but we also need to
understand how they came about, as well as
our own artistic legacy. Ultimately I would love
to see serious publications on art in the Middle
East written and published in the region and
found in bookstores around the world. I also
hope to see more cultural programming that
tells the story of these artists, art schools and
movements in our part of the world,” says
Hala, who is exploring many of these initiatives
through her role as the head of the artist in
residence programme at Qatar Museums
Authority’s Public Art Department.
In addition to her work at QMA, Hala is
also connected to another side of Doha’s
cultural scene, one dominated by a close knit
circle of artists and independent galleries.
Amongst them is the Al Markhiya Gallery,
a quiet refuge tucked away in the bustling Souq
Waqif, where the artist held her solo exhibition,
Fragments of Memory, in November 2009.
“Unlike many women artists from Qatar and
“Unlikemanywomen
artistsfrom Qatar,Hala’s
work isn’t purelydecorative
butratherintenselypersonal”
Heather Alnuweiri, gallerist
newBEGINNINGSBahraini artist Hala Al-Khalifa paints a pictureof
Qatar’spast,presentandafuturethatfocuseson
innovativethinkingtoinspirethenextgeneration
the Gulf, Hala’s work isn’t purely decorative but
rather intensely personal. She doesn’t paint
merely for the sake of painting but uses it as
a form of catharsis. This can be seen not only in
her subject matter, but in her deliberate use of
colours to convey mood and in the strength and
passion of her brush strokes. “It was precisely
these characteristics that attracted our attention
to her work,” says Al Markhiya’s head of
marketing and sales, US-born Canadian Heather
Alnuweiri, who has worked in Qatar’s oldest
gallery since its opening in November 2008.
Words by Alex Aubry
➤
After (I), 2011
Distance II,
2009
Aren’t You With Them?, 2009

2. 56|Harper’s BAZAAR Arabia Qatar Special Harper’s BAZAAR Arabia Qatar Special |57
the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, as well
as London, where she received her MFA in
2002 from the Slade School of Fine Arts.
“I don’t really have a defined idea of home or
find security in one place. I do have a silent
longing for Bahrain, Boston and London, but
it all comes back to this notion of longing.
Although I miss various things about the places
I lived in, I can still access them in my memory.
These are universal feelings that everyone
struggles with, and I think the best way to deal
with displacement is through writing and
making art. It allows one to explore emotions
that can’t easily be articulated, while providing
some sort of closure,” confides the artist, who
also incorporates subtle Arabic calligraphy into
her paintings as a discreet link to her own
heritage. “I think in Arabic first, and the
language itself is closely linked to the arts of the
region through literature and poetry,” says
Hala, who began painting at the age of 10
thanks to encouragement from her family.
“I was lucky to have a mother who has
a huge appreciation for the arts. Bahrain’s art
scene in the ’90s was very active, with many
exhibitions going on at the time that my
mother made sure I attended. She also gave me
the opportunity to learn under great Bahraini
artists such as Ahmed Baqer and Abdulrahim
Sherif, who became my mentors. In addition
to Mahmoud Obaidi and Dia Azzawi, whom
I consider masters of contemporary Iraqi art,
I also worked at the University of Bahrain as
a teaching assistant to Iraqi artist Rafi Al
Nassari. Being able to converse with these great
artists taught me to think outside the box,”
says Hala, whose exposure to the art world
grew further after moving to the United States.
“Studying art in Boston was a completely
new experience and a huge eye opener. I was
blown away by the talent that surrounded me
in class and became aware of the differences
between myself and the other students. The
first year was a struggle, because I couldn’t
speak or express myself in the same way as my
peers. Especially because everyone seemed so
confident and different than me, I became
a sponge and soaked up as much as I could.
Later, with every passing semester, I gained
more confidence and developed my own
identity. That stage in my life really shaped
who I am today,” observes Hala, who recalled
one defining moment from her time in Boston.
“There were many memorable moments,
but the one that stands out in my mind was my
first day of drawing class at art school when we
had to sketch a nude model seated in the
middle of the studio. While all the students
gathered around the model to choose different
angles to draw from, I can remember trying to
get over my initial shock and embarrassment,
which was childish at the time. Although that
was my most difficult class of all, I got over the
fact that there was a nude model, and
concentrated on improving my drawing skills.
I worked hard to learn how to draw with
confidence and not let my shyness get in the
way,” says the artist, who, through the
experience, learnt how to draw the human
form which regularly appears in her paintings.
Since 1992, the Doha-based artist has
participated in a number of group shows and
solo exhibitions in Bahrain, Qatar, Egypt,
Tunisia, Kuwait, and Sharjah. Her 2009
exhibition, Windows of Separation, at the
Fiumano Fine Art gallery in London’s West End,
received international media attention and saw
her paintings entering private collections in the
UK, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United States
and Qatar. “Collectors have responded very
enthusiastically to Hala’s work. Her first solo
exhibition at Al Markhiya sold out and we still
get inquiries from individuals looking for her
iconic armchairs,” says Heather Alnuweiri, who
also notes that Hala’s paintings can be found in
the collection of Doha’s Mathaf: Arab Museum
of Modern Art.
The artist is currently busy working on new
pieces for her upcoming exhibition in October at
the Matter House in Muharraq, Bahrain;
a gallery housed in a pearl merchant’s renovated
home. “In this body of work, I explore the legacy
of pearl diving, and the rich yet dangerous
relationship between people and the sea, which
was the life line for many families living on the
shores of the Arabian Gulf,” says the artist, who
has created an intriguing installation using
traditional domed fish traps made with woven
wire as a “metaphor for entrapment”.
Curate Award, giving individuals outside the
traditional art world an opportunity to rethink
what art and an exhibition can be. “This is one
of the most exciting exchanges taking place at
the moment. We have a shortage of professional
curators in our part of the world, and it will
provide a much needed platform for talented
individuals to share their innovative ideas. I am
very excited to hear the results of the award,
and see future curatorial talent emerge in the
region,” adds the artist, whose own work at
QMA is focused on building a local audience
for the arts in Qatar.
“Education plays a key role in connecting
our audiences to the art and objects we display
in the exhibitions we organise. When I work
on educational material for a show, my two
kids are the first to try out the activities, and
their response is my green light in terms of
what will resonate amongst younger visitors.
Personally, it’s also a great way to get them
involved in my work, and nurture an early
appreciation for the arts,” says Hala. With the
iPad generation on board from the outset, the
future of art in the Gulf looks bright.
Describing her work as an ongoing journey
of discovery, Hala’s paintings explore themes
related to absence and longing. In one painting
she places an empty chair at its centre; its focus
not the chair itself but the absence of the
subject entirely. Her more recent work features
faceless figures that turn away from the viewer,
producing the unexpected effect of drawing
one closer into the canvas. “I’m a product of
both the East and the West. I feel there is a part
of me that belongs to everywhere I’ve lived,
and wherever my family happens to be is where
I belong. Over the years I’ve moved to many
countries and learned how to adapt and live.
I don’t find the idea of packing and saying
goodbye to one place sad or difficult, because
I’m aware that the next place I’m going to will
offer new experiences,” says Hala, who lived in
Boston while studying at Tufts University and
“In terms of the art scene in the Gulf I think
there is a lot of support at the moment for
exhibitions, galleries and art fairs. In the past,
people would struggle to go to school to
become artists, and a lot of individuals would
take up art with another job on the side.
I think that mentality is gradually changing,
but one thing we still lack in the Gulf is
a proper art school so that we can give a new
generation of artists the kind of
support that will allow them to
thrive,” says Hala, noting that Al
Markhiya Gallery’s 40 Minus
programme is one example of
a local institution putting the
spotlight on young and emerging
Qatari and Arab artists.
“Establishing a prize would be
another great way to raise awareness
of the art scene here in the Gulf that
can offer established and emerging
artists exposure beyond their
geographic boundaries,” observed
the artist, pointing out that QMA
recently teamed up with the
Fondazione Prada to launch the
“The Gulf still lacks a proper
art school to give a new generation
of artists the kind of support that
will allow them to thrive”
hala Al-khalifa
■
ABOVE: Hala Al Khalifa with
Iraqi Qatar-based artist
Salem Mathkour at the artist’s
exhibition at the Al Markhiya
gallery, May 2013. LEFT: Red
on White Chair series, 2011.
BELOW: Until I Fly To You, 2011
My Second Half,
2009
Without an Address, 2009
The Anxiety of
the Place (III), 2009
The Anxiety of the Place (II), 2009
talkingpointThe