Drawn from the collection of the Barjeel Art Foundation, the ongoing exhibition— Memory Sews Together Events That Hadn’t Previously Met acquires more 30 artists to its show.

The Art Foundation in Sharjah acquired the artworks among the 50 acquisitions made by the foundation throughout 2020. Held at the Sharjah Art Museum, the exhibition reflects socio-political events and the human condition across the twentieth century.

The new additions include an untitled work by Algerian artist Djamila Bent Mohamed, Iraqi artist Widad Orfali’s 1963 work ‘Woman’ and also Hakim Al Akel’s ‘The Symbolic History of Arab Joy’ (Arabia Felix), a work from 1994. This is the first by Al Akel obtained by the foundation, which now presents his pieces alongside fellow Yemeni artists Fouad Al Futaih and Amna Al-Nasiri.

Another highlight is the 1961 piece by Palestinian artist Abed Abdi titled ‘Refugees’ —a muted painting of displaced figures trekking across a grey landscape.

Additionally, works by Fatma Arargi, Suad Al-Attar, Afifa Aleiby, Nasir Chaura, Adham Ismail, Mahmoud Daadouch, Hussein Shariffe, Zaha Hadid, Fouad Al Foutaih, Amna Al-Nasiri, Nabil Kanso, Fateh Moudarres, Choukri Mesli and Mohamed Kac, have been added to the latest list of acquisitions.

The selection offers an opportunity to explore the heterogeneity of regional art and its many histories, striving to propose an expanded vision of modernism. The title, inspired by verses from Etel Adnan’s Night, 2016— ‘Memory sews together events that hadn’t previously met.

It reshuffles the past and makes us aware that it is doing so,’ offers a broad retrospective look at the region’s highly varied artistic background.

The show includes works by over 130 artists from the Arab world, as well as countries in North Africa and West Asia and will be on till 2023 at the Sharjah Art Museum.