Redrawing the Boundaries: Artists and Collectives in the 20th Century Khaleej
Curated by Dr. Aisha Stoby

‘Redrawing the Boundaries’ traces the emergence of modern art movements across Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, collectively referred to as the Khaleej. Rather than outlining a linear progression, the exhibition assembles practices that intersected during formative moments of nation-building, where the tension between tradition and modernity gave rise to distinct artistic vocabularies. The selected artists were not only influential in shaping modernist aesthetic languages but were also central to the founding of art institutions and the cultivation of cultural communities throughout the Arabian Peninsula.

The exhibition borrows its title from an eponymous foundational text by the late curator Okwui Enwezor published in the founding issue of Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Arts in 1994, where he explores the boundaries imposed by art institutions that historically excluded artists from visibility and discourse. Positioned within this critical frame, the exhibition invites viewers to engage with the presented works through the lens of these exclusions, evoking a generation of scholars and artists committed to challenging dominant power structures and rethinking systems of knowledge production, pedagogy, and cultural politics.

Dr. Aisha Stoby

Dr Aisha Stoby is an Omani curator and researcher in the visual arts, with a particular focus on Global Modern and Contemporary art. She is an art advisor for the Oman Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport. She is also currently a teaching fellow at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London.

Previous curated exhibitions include Khaleej Modern at New York University, Abu Dhabi (2022), The Sultanate of Oman’s inaugural pavilion at the Venice Biennale, ‘Destined Imaginaries’ (2022), ‘Oman et la Mer’ at the National Maritime Museum in Paris (2014), ‘…all silent but for the buzzing …’ (2014) at the Royal College of Art, London, and ‘Salon Oman Noor’ at Leighton House Museum, London (2013).

Stoby holds a PhD from SOAS in Modern Art Movements from Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar (1953 – 2008), a Masters degree in Curating Contemporary Art from the Royal College of Art, London; and a bachelors in History of Art and Archaeology from SOAS.

Thursday 22 May, 2025

7.00pm
Public Preview
Hayy Arts
Ground Floor and First Floor
Hayy Jameel, Jeddah

8.00pm
Opening remarks by Nora Razian, Deputy Director and Head of Exhibitions at Art Jameel
Hayy Saaha
Hayy Jameel, Jeddah

8.15pm
Introduction and curator-led tour of the exhibition led by Dr. Aisha Stoby
Hayy Arts
Ground Floor and First Floor
Hayy Jameel, Jeddah