Abu Dhabi Art 2023

For our first participation in Abu Dhabi Art, from 22 - 26 November 2023, we are pleased to feature in our booth a three-person presentation with recent paintings by French Algerian Mahjoub Ben Bella, new works by Zoulikha Bouabdellah, French Algerian born in Moscow, and a series of new works on paper by Farah Khelil, French Tunisian based in Paris. Alongside our booth, the sector In & Around will feature a selection of textile works by Malaika Temba, Tanzanian American based in New York.

The impetus for the show is to celebrate the bold and imaginative multiplicity of voices through diverse approaches and practices that defines the gallery's dynamic identity as a venue for representing transnational artists with strong connections to the Middle-East and Africa.

Mahjoub Ben Bella

Ben Bella's unique visual language is composed of motifs, shapes and colors that emerge out of his treatment of traditional Arabic calligraphy in the European painting tradition. Born in Algeria in 1946, Mahjoub Ben Bella studied at the Fine Arts School of Oran before joining the Academy of Arts in Tourcoing in Northern France, where he lived and worked all his life. He received master's degrees at both the National School of Applied Arts and the National Fine Arts Academy of Paris. In addition to major international commissions ranging from a 1982 mural in Riyadh airport and a 12 km painted course for the 1986 Paris-Roubaix international bicycle race to a portrait of Nelson Mandela at the Wembley stadium in the UK in 1988 and ceramic tiles in the metro station in Tourcoing in 2000. Ben Bella's work has been widely exhibited around the world and acquired by prestigious collections and museums.

Zoulikha Bouabdellah

1977

Zoulikha Bouabdellah grew up in Algiers, moving in 1993 to France, where she obtained her masters from ENSBA-Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-arts Paris-Cergy in 2002. Multidisciplinary artist, her work combines video, photography, drawing, sculpture, and installation. She directed the 2003 video Dansons, in which she melds French and Algerian archetypes by executing a belly dance to the French national anthem. In 2005, she participated in Africa Remix at the Centre Pompidou, and three years later in the Tate Modern's festival Paradise Now! Essential French Avant-garde Cinema 1890-2008. Zoulikha Bouabdellah has participated in numerous exhibitions, including at the Mori Art Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, the Menil Collection, the Museum für Moderne Kunst and the Centro Atlantico de Arte Moderno. Her installations, video, and drawings question icons, dominant representations, motifs, and ornaments by juxtaposing them to geopolitical dynamics and global issues linked to conflicts, sexuality, or the status of women. This deconstruction of view operates through a reflection upon culture, production, and industrialization. Zoulikha Bouabdellah has been awarded the Abraaj Capital Art Prize, the Prix Meurice pour l'Art Contemporain, and the Villa Medicis Hors les Murs. Her works are part of public and private collections in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, China, and the United States.

Farah Khelil

Farah Khelil studied at the Higher Institute of Fine Arts of Tunis and holds a doctorate in arts and art sciences from the School of Arts at the Sorbonne (France). Combining artist's books, painting, photography, video, drawing, and installation, her work draws on intimacy and philosophy. Through both the visual and the conceptual, her practice questions the relationship to image, language and history. Since 2006, Farah Khelil has taken part in numerous exhibitions in museums, galleries and international art fairs. Her work has been part of numerous exhibitions worldwide, including the Fiminco Foundation (Romainville, France), LAAC (Dunkerque, France), Cité des Arts (Paris, France), Pernod Ricard Foundation (Paris, France), National Museum of Archeology of Umbria (Perouse, Italy), L'ahah (Paris, France), Le Cube (Rabat, Morocco), Transmitter (New York, USA), HandelStreet Projects (London, UK), Venice Biennale (Italy), Manart AlSaadiyat Cultural Center (Abu Dhabi), Le Center Culturel de Cerisy (Normandy, France). She was nominated for the 2019 AWARE Prize. She has received various grants including from the ArabFund for Arts and Culture, Goethe-Institut Tunis and the CAORC-CEMAT research grant. Her works are part of the collections of the British Museum, FRAC Poitou-Charentes, FRAC Normandie, Center for Artists' Books (Limousin) and the Paris Collections Contemporary Art Fund.

Malaika Temba

1996

Malaika Temba is a Textile Artist currently based in New York. She has been moving her entire life: to Saudi Arabia, Uganda, South Africa, Morocco, then Maryland. Her lens and creative process are global, nourished by these experiences, and also influenced by art at the intersection of visuals and sound. In addition to her studio practice, Malaika has worked as Assistant Art Director and Print Designer at Pyer Moss, a Design Consultant at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and is currently an Adjunct Professor in the Textiles Department at the Rhode Island School of Design. Malaika is originally from D.C. and Tanzania and graduated with a BFA in Textiles from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2018. Malaika has worked for contemporary artists including Jim Drain, Kenya (Robinson), and Anthony McCall. After exhibiting her work in the group show Positions and Points of View in September 2022, lilia ben salah gallery presents her first solo exhibition Wildfires in the Mount Kilimanjaro in Paris in Spring 2023. She has shown her work at Miami Art Week, the 2019 MET Gala, and on the runway at New York Fashion Week. She has been featured in exhibitions at venues such as Mindy Solomon Gallery in Miami (solo), Allouche Gallery in New York (group), and The Yard in New York (group), and features in public and private collections worldwide. She is the 2021 recipient of National Young Arts Foundation's Jorge M. Pérez Award.

Abu Dhabi Art 2023: Booth AT4

About

Mahjoub Ben Bella

Zoulikha Bouabdellah

Farah Khelil

Malaika Temba

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