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ABOUT YEMEN ART Visions of Yemen (London Exhibition, 2000)
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Keith Brockie (Scotland) |
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An exhibition of Yemeni art was held at the Kufa Gallery in London from 8 to 15 November 2000. The exhibition was initiated and hosted by the British-Yemeni Society, which is based in London. It was sponsored by H.E. The Ambassador of the Republic of Yemen, The Seven Pillars of Wisdom Trust, Longulf Trading (UK) Ltd., Visiting Arts, Al Tajir World of Islam Trust, Nimir Petroleum Company Ltd., Thabet International Ltd., and Yemenia. 11 British and 17 Yemeni artists were represented. The British-Yemeni Society suggests that since unification in 1990 an increasing number of British artists have visited Yemen, but the works of contemporary Yemeni artists is little known outside the Arabian Peninsula. Thus the purpose of the exhibition was to introduce their work to a wider British public, and to present it alongside recent paintings of Yemen by British artists as well as to bring into focus differing perceptions of that uniquely beautiful country. All of the paintings were for sale. However, prior to the London showing, this first major British exhibition of Yemeni paintings was previewed from 23 October to 2 November in Cardiff, Wales, in the Norwegian Church Arts Centre - a locally well-known land mark. The Norwegian Church is a symbol of Cardiff Bay's multicultural heritage in that it was set up as a mission to seamen coming into Cardiff Docks, such as the many Yemeni sailors who arrived on ships from the port of Aden. The long-established and thriving Yemeni community in Cardiff opened its first custom-built mosque and community centre in 1994; other exhibitions and cultural exchanges have already taken place there, celebrated also with poetry and performance. The emergence of a contemporary art movement in Yemen is probably a phenomenon of the last three decades, and whereas previously only flowers and animals were represented in paintings on the outsides of houses, now these artists reflect growing interaction with other cultures, with exuberant use of colour and symbolism, and the use of varying media, such as watercolours, silk-screen prints, block prints, and oils. Many of the Yemeni artists studied abroad, mainly in the Soviet Union. Their work has been shown in several Arab and European countries but never before in Britain. The exhibition was arranged with the assistance of the Yemeni International Cultural Circle (Al-Halaqa) in Sana'a. Al Halaqa, a non-governmental organisation, was established in 1998 with the main aim of promoting the visual arts in Yemen, and of bringing the country's contemporary art movement to international attention. Names of participating artists are as follows: British Karen Armitage, Julian Barrow, Anthony Bream, Shan Egerton, Anita Hall, Ken Howard R.A., Caroline Lees, Christopher Miers, Annabel Ridley, Rosalind Whitman, Martin Yeoman. Yemeni Hakim Al-Akil, Abdulla Al-Ameen, Saeed Ali Alawi, Ilham Al-Arashi, Ahmad Bamadhaf, Abdulhamid Djohaaf, Yassin Ghaleb, Sabri Al-Haiki, Raimah Kassim, Kamal Al-Maqrami, Ikhlas Mansour, Amin Nasher, Amnah Al-Nassiri, Mazher Nizar, Rashad Salim, Abdul Galil Saruri, Abdo Nagi. NB This information is obtained from the British-Yemeni Society and from the Western Mail, which is published weekly in Cardiff. -- submitted by Barbara Evans |
