Hassan Hajjaj, Omar Offendum (2013) Courtesy of the artist and Yossi Milo Gallery, New York.
The MEI Art Gallery is pleased to host Arab Pop Art: Between East and West, featuring the work of fourteen 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: Between East and West explores the evolution of an art movement that blends Arab cultural motifs and symbols with the visual language of Western Pop art. Emerging in the 1960s, Arab pop art exploded with the rise of social media and new digital technologies in the 2000s. Today, Arab pop artists harness creativity, satire, and a savvy awareness of street culture to comment on social and political issues in the Middle East, while also challenging regional stereotypes.
Featuring 14 artists from the Arab world and its diaspora, the exhibition explores the emergence of Arab Pop art as a bold fusion of cultural identity and global visual language that highlights a vibrant, evolving, and cosmopolitan Arab identity. The 35 works on display blend everyday symbols, regional motifs, and cultural commentary with striking imagery reminiscent of Western pop art icons like Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. The result is a show that challenges norms and informs new perspectives on art, identity, and culture in the Middle East.
Lead sponsorship by the Open Mind Project, additional support provided by the Embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco in Washington, D.C.
About the Curators
Participating Artists
Yusef Alahmad (Saudi Arabia/US), Chant Avedissian (Egypt), Marwan Chamaa (Lebanon/US), Yasmine Nasser Diaz (Yemen/US), Rasha Eleyan (Palestine/UK), Hassan Hajjaj (Morocco), Tony Khawam (Syria/US), Mous Lamrabat (Morocco), Ilyes Messaoudi (Tunisia), Qarm Qart (Egypt/Italy), Rana Salam (Lebanon), Water With Water (Nathan Ross Davis & Sarah Elawad, Qatar), Helen Zughaib (Lebanon/US).
Watch the panel discussion from the opening night of “Arab Pop Art,” featuring co-curators Laila Abdul-Hadi Jadallah and Lyne Sneige and two of the artists featured in the show, Helen Zughaib and Tony Khawam.
Featured Programming
Omar Offendum Live: Arab Pop Art Closing Night
The closing celebration of MEI’s Arab Pop Art exhibition, featuring a live performance by Syrian-American rapper, spoken word poet, and storyteller Omar Offendum.
Arab Pop Art Open House & Artist Talk with Marwan Chamaa
At our monthly open house, special guest and participating artist Marwan Chamaa joined us for an artist talk with co-curators Lyne Sneige and Laila Abdul-Hadi Jadallah
A Thousand and One Berber Nights – Film Screening
A screening of A Thousand and One Berber Nights (2023) followed by an in-person Q&A with director Hisham Aidi.
Art All Night 2025
Art All Night at the MEI Art Gallery: Gallery Open House and Live Arabic Music
Opening Night
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Media Hits
Inside Arab Pop Art: Between East and West
YUNG Magazine: From Warhol to calligraphy, Arab artists remix global Pop Art with local voices and political bite.
Five DC Exhibitions You Can See Despite the Government Shutdown
Hyperallergic: Even as major museums are shuttered, there’s plenty of great art to see in the nation’s capital right now, from Arab Pop Art to the work of McArthur Binion.
This Exhibition Shows How Arab Pop Art Can Illustrate Layered Identities
Vogue Arabia: Bridging bold aesthetics and bolder activism, Arab creatives are using pop art to paint outside the lines, as seen in the Middle East Institute’s latest exhibition, Arab Pop Art: Between East and West
2025 Fall Arts Guide: The Season’s Best Visual Art Exhibits From Big Museums to Small Galleries
Washington City Paper: From group shows on Arab Pop Art and women artists of the Dutch Golden Age, to retrospectives for local talent like Rik Freeman and Tawny Chatmon, there’s plenty to look at this fall.