Introduction
The MEI Art Gallery is pleased to announce its upcoming exhibition, Arab Pop Art: Between East and West, featuring the work of thirteen artists from the Arab world and its diaspora drawing on global pop culture to express a vibrant, evolving, and cosmopolitan Arab identity.
Arab pop art emerged in the Middle East from a desire to bridge the region’s rich cultural heritage with the influence of Western visual language. The result is artwork that is bold, fresh, and thought-provoking, that blends striking imagery inspired by Western pop icons such as Warhol and Lichtenstein with everyday symbols and cultural motifs. Using pop art, which is at once deeply rooted in local traditions and globally resonant, these artists explore questions of identity, challenge social norms, and confront political realities.
Lead sponsorship by the Open Mind Project, additional support provided by the Embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco in Washington, D.C.
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Participating Artists
Yusef Alahmad (Saudi Arabia), Chant Avedissian (Egypt), Marwan Chamaa (Lebanon), Yasmine Nasser Diaz (Yemen), Rasha Eleyan (Palestine), Hassan Hajjaj (Morocco), Tony Khawam (Syria/US), Mous Lamrabat (Morocco), Ilyes Messoudi (Tunisia), Qarm Qart (Egypt/Italy), Rana Salam (Lebanon), Water for Water Collective (Nathan Ross Davis & Sarah Elawad, Qatar), Helen Zughaib (Lebanon/US)
About the Curators
Laila Abdul-Hadi Jadallah is an arts administrator, exhibition producer, curator, and researcher working in Washington, D.C., whose work in the arts has spanned exhibition development, communications, and cultural heritage protection. She has managed, produced, or curated more than 20 exhibitions nationally with museums, galleries, and other partners. Jadallah is currently serving as the first-ever Manager of Arts and Culture for the City of Frederick where she is developing and implementing the city’s comprehensive arts and culture program strategic plan, overseeing the city’s public art and cultural programs, and art collection.
Lyne Sneige is the Director of the Arts & Culture Center at the Middle East Institute (MEI) in Washington, D.C., where she directs and manages the MEI Art Gallery and its related programming. With her long experience in programming and her wide network in the Middle East region, Sneige has developed innovative and impactful programming at the intersection of arts, society, and policy and helped forge several partnerships to include D.C.-based galleries, museums, educational institutions, and European cultural centers and embassies.