Category: Arts, Culture & Entertainment

Winners of 2022 Sheikh Zayed Book Award (SZBA)

The award saw a high turnout from authors around the world, with more than 3,000 applications submitted from more than 55 countries, including 20 Arab countries.

Sheikh Zayed Book Award (SZBA) announced on Monday the winners for its 16th edition across seven categories, selecting six literary figures, intellectuals and translators, along with Egypt’s Bibliotheca Alexandrina, for top honours.

Over the years, the Sheikh Zayed Book Award has managed to expand and become one of the most prestigious events in the Arab world, allowing for the development of cultural dialogue and the creation of new opportunities for authors and translators around the world.

This year’s winner in the young author category is Tunisian professor Mohamed al-Maztouri with his book Al Badawa fi al She’er al Arabi al Qadeem (Bedouinism in Ancient Arabic Poetry).

“The author of this book, Mohamed al-Maztouri, presents a serious academic study of bedouinism in ancient Arabic poetry,” the Zayed programme commented.

Adding that Maztouri “discusses its diverse concepts and many manifestations, describing it as a culture with special landmarks and a lifestyle inseparable from its place, environment, and geography.”

From pre-Islamic times the Arabian Peninsula has been home to world-class poetry that is deeply connected to values of bravery, nobility, eloquence and at times sensitivity.

Throughout the centuries, poetry’s popularity has only grown in the region, attracting new audiences in both the Arabian Peninsula and other Arab countries in North Africa and the Levant.

Today, the trend has been further boosted by Emirati initiatives and competitions.

The translation award went to Egyptian translator and author Ahmed Aladawi for his translation of the American author, George Makdisi, book “ The Rise of Humanism in Classical Islam and the Christian West” into Arabic.

Each winner receives a life-changing prize of AED 750,000 (USD 204,190/GBP165,220).

Winners will also be honoured in a ceremony at the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair later this year.

The Cultural Personality of the Year winner will be presented with a gold medal and a certificate of merit, as well as a Dh1 million prize.

source/content: thearabweekly.com

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Full list of winners of the Sheikh Zayed Book Award 2022:

Literature

Maq’ha Riche, Ain Ala Massr (Eye on Egypt: Cafe Riche) by Maisoon Saqer. Published by Nahdet Misr Publishing

Children’s Literature

Loghz al Kora al Zujajiya (The Mystery of the Glass Ball) by Maria Daadoush. Published by Dar Al-Saqi

Young Author

Al Badawa fi al She’er al Arabi al Qadeem (Bedouinism in Ancient Arabic Poetry) by Mohamed Al-Maztouri. Issued by the Faculty of Literature, Arts and Humanities at Manouba University and the GLD Foundation

Translation

Nash’at al Insaniyat Einda al Muslimeen wa fi al Gharb al Maseehi (The Rise of Humanism in Classical Islam and the Christian West) by Ahmed Aladawi. Published by Madarat for Research and Publishing.

Art and Literary Criticism

Al Sarid wa Taw’am al Rooh: Min al Tamtheel ila al Istinaa (The Narrator and the Soulmate: From Acting to Faking) by Mohamed Aldahi. Issued by Le Centre Culturel du Livre.

Arab Culture in Other Languages

The Arabian Nights in Contemporary World Cultures: Global Commodification, Translation, and the Culture Industry by Muhsin J. Al-Musawi. Cambridge University Press.

Publishing and Technology

Bibliotheca Alexandrina

source/content: thenationalnews.com

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EGYPT / MOROCCO / SYRIA /TUNISIA / U.A.E.

Jordan’s King Abdullah and Queen Rania Receive Vatican’s ‘2022 Path to Peace Award’

  • Vatican envoy to UN presents royal couple with 2022 Path to Peace award at gala event
  • Queen Rania praised for focus on education, prioritization of young people

The Vatican’s Path to Peace Foundation has presented Jordan’s King Abdullah and Queen Rania with the 2022 Path to Peace award for their promotion of interfaith harmony and dialogue.

Commending the royal couple for a “years-long effort” in promoting peace and interfaith cooperation in the Middle East, Vatican Ambassador to the UN Archbishop Gabriele Caccia made the presentation at the foundation’s 29th annual gala in New York.

The envoy singled out the queen’s focus on education and the prioritization of young people in her work.

He said: “She has long shown concern for the questions of education, connectivity, and cross-cultural dialogue, as well as sustainability, the environment, and migration, which places young people at the heart of solutions and is imbued with a sense of hope.”

King Abdullah said he accepted the award on behalf of “Jordanians, men and women, young people and elders, Muslims and Christians alike.”

Noting that Jerusalem was also home to many Arab Christians, part of the oldest Christian community in the world, he noted that “our journey to peace must travel through Jerusalem,” describing the city as “key to the future and stability that we all seek.”

He added: “Jerusalem should be an anchor for peace and coexistence, not for fear and violence.

“The (world’s most difficult challenges) will be met by drawing on our faith in God, our common humanity, and our will to jointly defeat poverty and despair, and end occupation and injustice.

“(Also), to help refugees everywhere return home, ready to rebuild shattered communities, and renew the hope that young people everywhere so desperately need.”

The monarch called on the international community to work toward a just and lasting peace in the Holy Land through a two-state solution with East Jerusalem as the capital of an “independent, sovereign, and viable Palestinian state … living side-by-side with Israel.”

source/content: arabnews.com (edited)

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Jordan’s King Abdullah and Queen Rania receive the Path to Peace Award in New York for their promotion of interfaith harmony and dialogue. (AFP)

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JORDAN

Ghalia Benali: Tunisian Singer, Writer, Graphic Designer & Actress

An electrifying voice.

Ghalia Benali is a Tunisian poet, writer, and songwriter best known for dabbling in multiple music genres, multiculturalism, and defining contemporary Arabic music. She is also an actress and a graphic designer, a talent that goes hand-in-hand with her literature works such as “Romeo and Leila.”

Although born in Brussels in 1968, Benali was raised in Zarzis, in southeastern Tunisia, where she got her early exposure to songs and dances, with her mother being her personal music teacher. Growing up, she was exposed to the world of Egyptian and Indian films, as well as the voices of Arab singers such as Adib AlDayikh, Oum Kalthoum, and Sabah Fakhri, all of which influenced her multicultural style of singing growing up.

By the age of 19, Benali returned to Belgium to study graphic design at the Institut Saint-Luc of Graphic Arts where she would begin to sing and perform professionally. Her early performances would include collaborations with live bands and fellow musicians in 1993, a tour in Portugal in 1994, and a live performance with the band “Timna,” in Brussels, in 1999.

From 2001, she released a number of loved albums such as “Wild Harissa,” “Nada,” and “Romeo and Leila.” However, the very album that put her on the map was “Ghalia Benali Sings Umm Kulthum.” In fact, it was a smashing hit, earning her the title Ambassador of Arab Culture in Europe in 2009. By the following year, Benali would be featured on television across several Arab countries.

Benali is also renowned for her poetry, some of which centered around works by famous poets, Sufism, and Persian mystics. She is also known for her acting, winning an award from Women for Africa Foundation for her role in “As I Open My Eyes” in 2016, and nominated by Les Magrittes du Cinema for “Best Hope Actress” in 2017. She had played recent roles in the films “Fatwa,” and “A Tale of Love and Desire.”

Finally, Benali is credited for launching the Brussels-based MWSOUL Art Foundation. Having had to deal with unorganized management, she took it upon herself to launch her very own platform, a non-profit organization that brings awareness through art. You can follow them on Instagram for featured artworks and photography.

source/content: abouther.com

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BELGIAN / TUNISIAN

UAE : Khalifa bin Zayed: 18 years of empowerment

 “While people are proud of their achievements, we are proud of being the children of Sheikh Zayed, and while people talk of their history, we speak of the history of giving that began with the formation of the UAE,” said the late His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, epitomising the nations’s approach from the first day it was established to its phase of empowerment, ushering in the birth of a powerful and successful nation.

On 4th November, 2004, Sheikh Khalifa assumed power and, up until his passing, helped the country, whose track record of achievements spans nearly 35 years, progress from the foundation phase to the empowerment stage.

Over this short period, the UAE has topped international competitiveness indexes and has become the second-largest economy in the Arab region, despite its small area and population.

Moreover, the UAE is the first Arab and Islamic nation to reach the planet Mars and one among few countries with significant achievements in the space sector.

The UAE’s achievements during the empowerment phase are reflected on the lives of its people and business community, making it the dream destination of anyone seeking success, stability, and wellbeing.

After assuming power, the late Sheikh Khalifa launched the first strategic plan of the UAE Government to achieve balanced and sustainable development and ensure the wellbeing of UAE residents.

In 2009, he was re-elected as the President of the country, and thanks to his wise leadership, the UAE overcame the financial crises and political issues facing the region due to his active foreign policy, which also enhanced the regional and international stature of the country.

How did the UAE manage to accomplish significant achievements during the empowerment phase? The Emirates News Agency (WAM) monitors these milestones and challenges in the following report:

1. The Health Sector.

The UAE’s leadership has prioritised the health sector and increased public spending on the sector, amounting at times to seven percent of the federal budget.

This fact is highlighted by the spending on the sector in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020, which amounted to AED3.83 billion, AED4.2 billion, AED4.5 billion, AED4.4 billion and AED4.84 billion, respectively.

This policy also proved successful when the sector faced the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, demonstrating a high level of efficiency supported by the many well-equipped public and private hospitals.

The sector’s efficiency was further supported by the country’s efforts to establish media cities, including Khalifa City in Abu Dhabi, Dubai Medical City and Sharjah City.

Coinciding with these achievements, most Emirati hospitals are internationally accredited, and the country has become a leading medical destination, underpinned by the rising number of hospitals, which increased from 16 in 1975 to 169 in 2020.

These hospitals are managed by highly qualified medical staff, numbering 8,995 in 2020 in the government sector and 17,136 in the private sector, compared to 792 doctors in 1975.

The number of nurses also reached 56,045 working in the government sector in 2020, increasing 252 percent compared to 1975.

The country has prioritised health insurance and provided it to citizens for free, in addition to comprehensive medical coverage for all segments of society, especially the elderly and people of determination.

In 2017, the UAE established the first cancer treatment centre utilising proton technology in the Middle East and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region.

The Emirates was also one of the first countries to use robotics in the pharmaceutical sector.

Smart rooms were established to provide entertainment services to patients and link their medical files with hospitals to provide comprehensive and effective care.

The Ministry of Health and Prevention has been keen to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) in medical services, used in over 100 facilities nationwide.

The UAE ranks first in the world in the number of accredited facilities, and more than 85 percent of Emirati hospitals have international accreditation.

2. Education Sector.

The UAE’s spending on the health and education sectors underscores the leadership’s belief in the importance of these two sectors to achieving sustainable development, with spending from 2016 to 2020 accounting for between 20 percent and 22 percent respectively of the federal budget.

With the budget allocated to the national education sector standing at AED10.41 billion, AED10.46 billion, AED10.40 billion, AED10.2 billion and AED6.536 billion for 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020, respectively, the average share of the federal budget is 15 percent.

The UAE believes that the education system is the driver of development and ensures the right to free education for all citizens. From 2012, education became mandatory for everyone over the age of six until secondary education, which was reinforced by issuing the Children’s Rights Law (Wadeema).

The UAE’s education strategy confirms the establishment of an educational system based on the skills of the 21st century. It aims to provide higher education that can compete with the world’s best universities.

The Mohammed bin Rashid Smart Learning Initiative, launched in 2012, is an ideal model covering all schools in the country and creates a new educational environment in schools that includes smart classes.

In 1973, the country had 110 schools with 40,000 students, while in 2007, the percentage of educated citizens reached 88.7 percent of the population.

The UAE Vision 2021 highlighted the need to advance education in the country to the highest in the world and adopt a smart system as a primary goal.

The vision also confirmed that the upcoming years would witness comprehensive transformations in learning and education, led by smart education.

The national education strategy aims to ensure equal education, maintain the quality and efficiency of institutional education, promote scientific research, encourage students to enrol in higher education, achieve innovation, and support smart education.

Subsequently, the National Strategy for Higher Education 2030 affirms the importance of improving the scientific and technical skills of students, to support the growth of the economy.

At the same time, the UAE has kept pace with the latest innovations in the health sector. The government has launched many initiatives that encourage innovation in general and innovation in the medical field in particular.

The UAE is one of the few countries that utilises medical robotics technology when conducting major surgeries.

President Khalifa bin Zayed passed away on Friday, May 13th, 2022

source/content: wam.ae

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ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (U.A.E.)

Arab Cinema Center Grants Mouhamad Keblawi the ‘Arab Cinema Personality of the Year Award’

During the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale), Arab Cinema Center (ACC) granted Mouhamad Keblawi, Founder and Head of Malmö Arab Film Festival in Sweden, the Arab Cinema Personality of the year award.

This comes in recognition of his contribution and immense support to Arab Cinema through the festival, with an aim to promote Arab cinema in Sweden and Scandinavia.

Mohamed Keblawi is a Swedish-Palestinian director and producer, who has worked in television and documentary film production.

In 2011, he founded the Malmö Arab Film Festival in Sweden, which is set on encouraging Arab filmmakers to find more opportunities to tell their stories, and support Arab film projects.

The festival screened hundreds of Arab films since its establishment, including Oscar-nominated films; Director Naji Abu Nowar’s Jordanian film Theeb, Kaouther Ben Hania’s Tunisian film The Man Who Sold His Skin, and Palestinian short film The Present by Farah Nabulsi.

The festival also featured several award-winning Arab films that have been to numerous international festivals; Wajib by director Annemarie Jacir, EXT. Night by Ahmad Abdalla, A Son by Mehdi Barsaoui, Gaza Mon Amour by Arab and Tarzan Nasser, and Ali, the Goat and Ibrahim by Sherif Elbendary, among others.

Mohamed Keblawi also launched MAFF Market Forum as part of the festival with the aim of supporting Arab film projects and helping them come to light. During its latest edition, the Forum presented monetary prizes worth of $ 250,000. Ever since it was created, this annual prize supported almost 100 projects including Costa Brava, Lebanon by Mounia Akl, Beauty and the Dogs by Kaouther Ben Hania, Captains of Zaatari by Ali El Arabi, 200 Meters by Ameen Nayfeh,

Our River…Our Sky by Maysoon Pachachi, Communion by Nejib Belkadhi, Khartoum Offside by Marwa Zein, and Tiny Souls by Dina Naser.

Keblawi is also the founder of Arab Cinema in Sweden, a company that works on the distribution of Arab films in Sweden. These films include Mohamed Jabarah Al-Daradji’s Jordanian film The Journey, Sophie Boutros’ Lebanese film Solitaire, Mohamed Khan’s Egyptian film Factory Girl, and Khadija al-Salami’s Yemeni film I Am Nojoom, Age 10 and Divorced.

Most recently, Mohamed Keblawi received the City of Malmö’s Grant for Art and Culture for the year 2021. This is an annual grant allocated to twelve creators in the fields of music, theater, cinema and literature. From 2015 to 2017, he was a member of the documentary film nomination committee for the Guldbagge Awards, one that is considered as Sweden’s Oscars.“What Keblawi did by establishing a main venue for Arab cinema in Sweden, is certainly a first of its kind. Through which, thanks to his tireless efforts, he was able to develop a platform for filmmakers in Sweden and Europe, and so Arab filmmakers became quite familiar faces in Sweden. He was able to create an exceptional fan base for a festival that caters for Arab films in Europe. We are honored to grant him the prize, as he continues to expand his horizons each year, whether through the festival or through his distribution and production firms.” commented Alaa Karkouti and Maher Diab, the Co-founders of Arab Cinema Center.”The prize crowns many years of hard work to try to grant the Arab film a chance to be acknowledged in places that it has never been before,” Keblawi said after announcement of the prize. “Things like the release of an Arab picture in Swedish theaters or Sweden’s funding of an Arab film were fictitious at the beginning of the millennium, this is an achievement which I am proud of. I’d like to thank everyone who helped me reach my goal. I’d also like to thank the Arab Cinema Center for this award, which I’m very proud of.

The Arab Cinema Personality of The Year award is part of its strategy of promoting the Arab film industry internationally and supporting Arab filmmakers.

During the last years, Arab Cinema Center (ACC) presented the Arab Cinema Personality of The Year award to Chiraz Latiri, former Tunisian Minister of Cultural Affairs, Screenwriter and Producer Mohamed Hefzy, the President of the Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF), Abdulhamid Juma, Chairman of the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF), and Masoud Amralla, Artistic Director of DIFF.

Arab Cinema Center (ACC), founded in 2015 by MAD Solutions, is a non-profit organization incorporated in Amsterdam. ACC also provides networking opportunities with representatives of companies and institutions specialized in co-production and international distribution, among others. ACC’s activities vary between film markets, stands,pavilions, networking sessions, one-on-one meetings bringing together Arab and foreign filmmakers, welcome parties, and meetings with international organizations and festivals.

Also, the activities include the issuance of Arab Cinema Magazine to be distributed at the leading international film festivals and markets.  Furthermore, newsletter subscription is now available on ACC’s website, allowing users to obtain digital copies of Arab Cinema Magazine, as well as news on ACC’s activities, notifications of application dates for grants, festivals and offers from educational and training institutions, updates on Arab films participating at festivals, exclusive news on the Arab Cinema LAB, and highlights from ACC’s partners and their future projects.

Arab Cinema Center has launched the Arab Cinema Directory in English language on its website, which is a comprehensive cinema directory that provides multiple tools in one place for the first time in order to enhance easy access to information on cinema to film makers inside and outside the Arab world. It also aims to facilitate the connection between the Arab film and Filmmakers and the International market. It also helps International Filmmakers to easily identify the Arab Cinema Productions.

source/content: egypttoday.com

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SWEDEN / PALESTINE

Egypt’s Ahmed Shawky to Chair Cannes Festival’s FIPRESCI Jury

Egyptian film critic Ahmed Shawky was chosen last week to head the jury of the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) competition at the 75th Cannes International Film Festival.

Though Egyptians have been part of the FIPRESCI jury panel competition in the past, this is the first time one will chair the panel.

Shawky will head a panel that includes a number of film critics from all across the world: Mariola Wiktor (Poland), Nathalie Chifflet (France), Emanuel Levy (USA), Simone Soranna (Italy), Jihane Bougrine (Morocco), Magali Van Reeth (France) Bidhan Rebeiro (Bangladesh) and Youssoufa Halidou Harouna (Niger).

Launched in the 1920s, the FIPRESCI committee is among the most influential film criticism committees internationally. The committee is responsible for awarding the best film at numerous festivals, including at Cannes since the festival’s launch in 1946.

The upcoming Cannes International Film Festival is scheduled to take place between 13 and 24 May 2022.

Shawky is an Egyptian film critic, programmer and screenwriting developer. He writes about film for numerous Egyptian and regional publications. He has also published six books about Egyptian cinema. 

A FIPRESCI board member and the vice president of the African film critics’ federation (FAAC), Shawky is also as a programmer for many film festivals.

Shawky was appointed an acting artistic director of the Cairo International Film Festival in 2019, and a year later he was appointed its artistic director.

Shawky is also one of two Egyptian names to head the 75th festival’s juries, with the other being Yousry Nasrallah who will chair the Short Film Jury, a panel in charge of selecting one of nine films in competition for Short Film Palme d’Or.

source/content: english.ahram.org.eg (edited)

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EGYPT

Saudi Art World Honors Legacy of Abdulhalim Radwi

The life and legacy of the late Saudi artist and sculptor Abdulhalim Radwi have been saluted at a glittering tribute night in Jeddah.


Family, friends, colleagues, fellow artists, and leading figures from the art world gathered to honor the founder of Saudi modern art, who died in 2006 but continues to inspire artists today.


The event, hosted by the artist’s daughter Dr. Maha Radwi in collaboration with the Saudi Arabian Society for Culture and Arts, featured an exhibition and documentary film showcasing his life and career.


“While our hearts remain heavy over the passing of my father, his legacy lives on,” Radwi said. “One of the things that we’re trying to talk about is not just the wonderful pieces he made over his lifetime, but his humanity.”


Society president Mohammed Al-Subaih said: “Art was a big part of his life, and we wanted to memorialize his legacy as much as possible. He’s someone that deserves to be remembered because he is a significant figure in Saudi art history.”


Radwi was born in Makkah in 1939. His mother, a painter, nurtured his young talent and encouraged him to pursue art.


In the mid-1950s he won his first official painting competition while at high school, and in 1961 traveled to Rome to study fine arts. He returned to the Kingdom as an art teacher in Riyadh.


From 1968 to 1974 was director of the Jeddah center for fine arts, later overseeing the city’s culture and arts scene between 1980 and 1992.

source/content: arabnews.com (edited)

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SAUDI ARABIA

Arabian Peninsula’s Biggest Catholic Church Opens in Bahrain

The building can accommodate 2,300 worshippers in two-tiered seating

Against the backdrop of mosque minarets and a desert oil field, the biggest Catholic church in the Arabian peninsula opened its doors in Bahrain.

The cavernous Cathedral of Our Lady of Arabia, with seats for 2,300 people, will serve the majority-Muslim Gulf country’s small Catholic community.

“We’re happy for this church,” Bahrain-based priest Father Charbel Fayad told AFP. “It will be for the spiritual needs and spiritual health of all the people.”

The modern-style church, with two tiers of seating, lies about a mile (1.6 kilometres) from a large mosque and a stone’s throw from an oil well, in the south of the state.

The Vatican estimates Bahrain has some 80,000 Catholics, mainly workers from Asia, mostly India and the Philippines.

“Christians and non-Christians, all are children of God and they are all welcome here in this beautiful church,” Father Charbel said.

King Hamad last week invited Pope Francis to visit Bahrain.

source/content: khaleejtimes.com (edited)

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BAHRAIN

Egyptian Director Yousry Nasrallah to head 75th Cannes Festival’s Short Film Jury

Egyptian film director Yousry Nasrallah has been proposed as the jury chairman of the Short Films competition of the 75th Cannes Film Festival, which will take place between 17 and 28 May.

“The Jury will be tasked with selecting one of the nine films in Competition for the Short Film Palme d’or, to be awarded at the Festival’s closing ceremony on Saturday 28 May,” the organisers stated on Thursday.

Under the presidency of Nasrallah, the jury also comprises acclaimed Canadian actress and director Monia Chokri, Belgian director and screenwriter Laura Wandel, French actor and director Félix Moati, and French film critic Jean-Claude Raspiengeas.

“The Jury will also award three La Cinef prizes to the best of the 16 films from film schools presented this year. The prizes will be awarded at a ceremony prior to the screening of the award-winning films on Thursday, May 26, 2022.”

Arab filmmakers are well represented at Cannes this year, with the International Federation of Critics selecting veteran Egyptian director Ahmed Shawky to chair the critic’s jury.

Meanwhile, the International Critics Week (La Semaine de la Critique) announced Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania as the president of the 61st edition.

Veteran French actor Vincent Lindon will head the main jury which awards the coveted Palme d’Or top prize alongside British actress and director Rebecca Hall, Indian actress Deepika Padukone, Swedish actress Noomi Rapace, Italian actress and director Jasmine Trinca, Iranian director Asghar Farhadi, French director Ladj Ly, American director Jeff Nichols and Norwegian director Joachim Trier.

source/content: english.ahram.org.eg / ahram online

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EGYPT

Bahraini Artist AbdulRahim Sharif Awarded the Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France’s Highest Arts Honour

The renowned painter was recently awarded the Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres

If there’s one thing artist AbdulRahim Sharif doesn’t like, it’s adopting a formula in his work.

And it seems that is, in fact, the winning formula, as the Bahraini painter, one of the island’s foremost talents, was recently awarded one of France’s most prestigious honours for people in the arts.

Sharif, 68, who was born in Manama in 1954, was recognised as a Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. The accolade is awarded to a select number of people annually to recognise significant contributions made in the arts and literature, with the likes of Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Ruler of Sharjah, and actors Mads Mikkelsen, Cate Blanchett and George Clooney having received it in the past.

Who is AbdulRahim Sharif?

Sharif studied at the famous Ecole nationale superieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris under the tutelage of sculptor Marcel Gili in the 1970s, where he won both the Pierre David-Weill and La Grande Masse des Beaux-Arts prizes for drawing.

After a period developing his craft in New York at theParsons School of Design (part of The New School), he returned to Bahrain in 1982, where a health crisis led Sharif to reopen his New York portfolio and re-evaluate his work.

“It took me back to something I’d been interested in from my youth,” he tells The National. “And that was the concept of immortality. This issue has stayed with me since I was painting instinctively as a younger man. It took time for me to realise that immortality was the beating heart of my work.”

He started to incorporate surprising elements into his art, pushing back against conventional practice and even playfully calling one of his exhibitions Who Says It Doesn’t Work?, featuring pieces such as his Bathtub series, toying with viewer expectations.

“I am moving more and more towards works with physical and mental energy,” says Sharif. “This gave me the freedom to paint anything. I am against formula.”

A reputation gone global

Sharif’s reputation has gone far beyond Bahrain and even New York City.

He used to teach students who’d moved to the kingdom from Europe and America. As his students left the Gulf and returned to their home countries, they took the art and name with them.

“The banks were booming at that time and I sold a lot of my work to expats in the industry,” he says. “Then locals started coming to the workshops and getting interesting in paintings. Suddenly, there was a local market that hadn’t been there before.”

As his reputation grew abroad, so it grew at home. Sharif won the Dilmun Award in the late 1970s, as well as the Dana Grand Award twice in the 1990s.

He was also a founder of the Bahrain Art Society, helping to bring a new generation of Bahraini artists into the wider art world.

A lifetime’s reward

Now, after nearly 50 years working in the arts, Sharif has collected perhaps his most prestigious award yet with the Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

“It means a lot,” says Sharif. “It’s one of the most important awards France can give. Even though I’ve had a lot of appreciation in my life, I’m very proud of this one”.

The award was presented in a small-scale ceremony at the French Embassy in Bahrain, attended by a few of Sharif’s family members and Shaikha Mai Bint Mohammed Al Khalifa, president of the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities.

It was a fitting tribute to Sharif’s lifetime of work and now his mind has turned to his legacy.

Sharif and his son Hisham, also a talented artist, have recently launched a joint exhibition titled Sharif & Sharif, which runs until Wednesday, February 23, at the Bahrain Art Centre. It shows their individual creative journeys and speaking to a “common understanding and concern for humanity, especially in the face of corruption, war and violence, and a common desire for society to start again”.

Sharif also aims to use the knowledge and skill he’s accumulated to help the next generation of artists in the region. “Teaching for me is an addiction. I want to ignite this again,” he explains.

“One of my plans, if God gives me health and long life, is to establish a school where we take care of talented artists from the region.”

source/content: thenationalnews.com

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BAHRAIN