In the heart of the Marais district in Paris, in the old Pierre Cardin Museum, Menart fair 2024 was in full swing this last September 2024.
Modern, contemporary, and emerging artists covered the walls with engaging art, the luminous space wrapped with an abundance of diverse and profound art hailing from the mena region.
Socio-political issues embedded into artistic works. Notions on war and its consequences, rebalancing gender inequalities and highlighting art full of expression and emotion. The strength of the artworks by women artists shinning through, works sharing thoughts, as well as documenting and as a witness of these times.
Menart Fair was filled with interesting artworks, with the aim for further women representation in the arts to be showcased and pushing forth to redress the balance in the art market. The fair also emphasised the importance of women in the history of art as well as their engaging role in shaping contemporary art scenes.
The art fair was founded by Laure d'Hauteville in 2021 dedicated to highlighting artists from the Levant, the Arabian Gulf and North Africa.
Marina David, Adélaïde Stephan, Yannick Boesso, Amélie Kalafat, Laure d’Hauteville, Tara El Khoury Mikhaël, Clément Mounzer, Sama Beydoun
Works by Valérie Ohana and Zineb Mezzour
Artist Valérie Ohana exhibiting with Myriem Himmich Gallery showing at Menart Fair, takes us through her work, where art, nature and spirituality merge into colour and vitality. Light and love arise out of Ohana's artworks filled with powerful symbolism. Dynamic, vibrant, expressive colour and meaning reflect out of Valérie Ohana's art, with the artist sharing on how we are all connected and how art can render healing properties.
Artworks by Valérie Ohana
Zineb Mezzour is a painter, ceramist, photographer and poet. Exhibiting at Menart Fair with Myriem Himmich Gallery which showcased Mezzour's ink works on paper and ceramic and porcelain work which the artist paints over with a special material she created for them. Here she shares with us about her art, leaving the colour she uses to find its way, working with nature and the material. The water drops represent atoms, which are not visible to the eye, but if we zoom in, as Mezzour recreates that aspect and effect in her art, we see the atoms/the water drops are clinging to each other. Peacefulness and tranquility reflect back from the art to the viewer, alongside the work grounding us to the earth.
Works by Zineb Mezzour
Artworks by Hasnae El Ouarga, Intissar Belaid, Amal Al Nakhala
Art by Mounat Charrat
"The folds in the shape of a Leporello symbolize the passage of time, each fold representing a moment, a memory, a whisper of what has been and what will be. Between these times, small stones, seemingly insignificant in size but immense in their symbolism, navigate through the folds as if they are seeking to escape.
In this dance, the stones appear on the verge of breaking free, as if the folds of time are both a refuge and a boundary – a space where the tension between holding on and letting go is palpable.
The stones, nestled but restless, urge us to consider what it means to be both shaped by and resistant to the forces that bind us.“
—Mounat Charrat—Katharina Maria Raab Gallery
Charrat philosophically questions the human condition through art, exploring memory and intimacy within the world we live in. The artist explores and questions time and space and the role of intuition, in reflective engaging art.
Artworks by Zainab AlShibani
A graphic designer and lettering artist, Zainab Alshibani explores mysticism and folklore in her illustrations, lettering and aluminium wire designs. Offering through art a dream like world looking into life, gender, language and magical elements. Bold letters, patterns and shapes engage us into Alshibani's art.
Artworks, ink on paper, by Suad Alsalem
Educator and visual artist Suad Alsalem has shaped the trajectory of numerous artists and educators in Qatar. The distinctive lines on the artworks recall local narratives and heritage, as well as looking into human conditions and psyche, working between abstraction, realism and abstract expressionism. Expressive strong works of art that reflect on spirituality, care and human thought.
Artworks by Liane Mathes Rabaat and Carole Ingea
Liane Mathes Rabaat showcasing through art the possibilities of calligraphic Damascus paper, where she cuts, folds and transforms paper into geometric shapes, rosettes, circles of colours that provoke patterns of swirls hypnotising the viewer into fields of colour.
Carole Ingea sculptural work explores themes of love, dance, childhood, parenthood, as well as gender issues, emphasising through art the importance of women in society, respect towards women's bodies, mind and voices. Ingea sculptures create wires of transparency and evoke interest and reflection.
Myçal El Khouri is both an artist and a medical biologist. Geometric figurative forms take shape within expressive lines and abstraction. Brushstrokes recalling what El Khouri may see through her microscope as a medical biologist. Fusing art and science, El Khouri's striking colours and vigorous lines create both chaos and order emerging into patterns of nature and figures.
Shams Collective
The collective are a group of Arab women from different countries empowering voices and togetherness through their art, sharing their own perspective on migration, culture, the notion of identity, and socio-political notions.
Sama Beydoun takes us through the art exhibited as part of Shams Collective.
Multidisciplinary artist Sama Beydoun's interest lies in visual culture and social causes. One of her projects called 'Beirut Street Museum', takes the viewer through the streets of Beirut exploring culture that may otherwise go unnoticed. Beydoun's art exhibited at Menart Fair, utilises typography, photography, painting to relay cultural elements and personal narratives. Expressive, empathetic art, fresh, bold colours and typography that draw the viewer in.
Kinda Ghannoum is a graphic designer who's work centres on developing brand identities, research and Arabic typography. She is the co-founder of The Syrian Design Archive, which preserves and documents Syrian design history through a digital archive. Ghannoum presents at Menart Fair her striking design typography with powerful colours.
Maryam Khosrovani is an artist, graphic designer and teacher. Her art highlights contemporary social issues. Delicate, intricate art, fusing her Iranian heritage via motifs using contemporary materials, propelling pixel like visuals which reflect on current issues, and bring forth a modern contemporary visual.
Roya Akhavan art conveys the emotions of exile, the turbulence it prompts alongside art lines to build on harmony, as well as reflect on the continuity of movement. Both notions of chaos and harmony come together through Akhavan's grand paintings, with layers of patterns and colours intersecting each other creating further patterns.
Vishka Asayesh art communicates to the viewer about women's rights and the notion of freedom. Her sculptures emit the power women possess. Sculptures transmitting balance, movement, dance in grace and strength.
Errm Art Gallery
Artworks by Aliaa El Gready and Kawther Al Atiyah