Frieze – Issue 257 March 2026 – Frieze (1)

My father was a diplo- mat, but he quit when I was six months old and we moved back to Kuwait. There was a liberal, progressive atmosphere in 1960s and ’70s Kuwait, but everything shifted after the Iranian Revolution (1978–79). When my parents returned in 1983, they were still in that ’70s mind- set. They were interested in communism and had even pursued their higher education in Moscow.

After Russia, they moved to several African coun- tries, so their mindset was very different from those of traditional families in Kuwait. Suddenly, they were transplanted into this conservative atmosphere, and they didn’t know what had happened. We were living in this strange liberal cocoon, inside a heavily religious, highly patriar- chal society. My mother was a huge advocate for women’s rights. She trained as a painter in Moscow, but in Kuwait her work was looked down upon for being figurative – if you draw, paint or make sculptures of people, it’s seen as promoting idolatry.

So her work made her unique, but it also meant people thought she was very strange. That really affected me growing up – we were almost like outlaws or aliens within our own society. My mother is also a storyteller and a writer, so all the figures in her works have stories behind them, like fairy tales.

As a child, these artworks were beautiful to me, but that’s not what the wider society was seeing. This storytelling aspect shaped my practice later in life, but in the beginning, as a kid growing up in her studio, I didn’t want to be like her. I thought: I’m going to do something different; I’m not going to be an artist like you. fireworks. My parents were living through hell, but I didn’t really understand what was happen- ing; it became like a dream world to me.

Oil on board. 61 x 50.8 cm, 24 x 20 in © 2026 Milton Avery Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York and DACS, London 2026. Courtesy Victoria Miro LOOKING OUTWARDS TO LOOK INWARDS 14 MARCH–18 APRIL 2026 · VICTORIA MIRO VENICE ETEL ADNAN, MILTON AVERY, ILSE D’HOLLANDER frieze No. 257 March 2026 5 THE ARGUMENT Start here. You won’t be disappointed. p.68 p.54 3URÀOH $OLD)DULG Landscape as studio ,QWHUYLHZ ’DQD$ZDUWDQL The ethics of making p.42 5RXQGWDEOH *XOI)XWXULVP What comes next?

p.19 1HWZRUNV 6,1’%$’&ROOHFWLYH Art hits the road TIME THE DESTROYER IS TIME THE PRESERVER JORGE TACLA ———————————— @sharjahart @sharjahart 8 FEB 7 JUN 2026 – SHARJAH, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 8 FEB 3 MAY 2026 – SHARJAH, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES Jorge Tacla, Anatomía de la Dislexia (Anatomy of Dyslexia) 04, Mina Loy, 2017. From ‘Anatomía de la Dislexia’, 2017–2021.

Image courtesy of the artist Ahaad Alamoudi, WHAT IS THIS?! (still), 2026. Supported by Sharjah Art Foundation. Image courtesy of the artist. frieze No. 257 March 2026 7 CONTENTS To Do: MOHAMMAD ALFARAJ 15 One Take: M.F. HUSAIN by Carlos Valladares 16 NETWORKS Joining forces Connecting the Gulf with SINDBAD COLLECTIVE by Ahaad Alamoudi 19 Due credit: art and the burner phone by Ruba Al-Sweel 23 Rural modernity in Qatar by Samir Bantal 25 SUNNY RAHBAR on Dubai’s art spaces as told to Marko Gluhaich 26 MOHAMMAD ALFARAJ’s visions of Saudi Arabia with Róisín Tapponi 29 FEATURES Roundtable: Gulf Futurism Considering the region’s changing shape 42 Profile: ALIA FARID by Maru Pabón 54 1,500 Words: MONIRA AL QADIRI as told to Vanessa Peterson 62 Interview: DANA AWARTANI’s sacred geometry with Fawz Kabra 68 Essay: On Post-Western art collectives by Rahel Aima 76 REVIEWS ‘Rays, Ripples, Residue’, 421 Arts Campus, Abu Dhabi 110 Postcard from Abu Dhabi by Chloe Stead 136 frieze No. 257 March 2026 8 CONTRIBUTORS Róisín Tapponi is a writer and film programmer.

She is founder of Shasha Movies. Her debut novel Scene City is forthcoming this year from Verso Books. Mohammad Alfaraj is an artist, film director and writer. He was awarded Gold in the Emerging Artist category at the Art Basel Awards 2025. His work is on view at Taipei Biennial 2025, Taiwan, until March 29.

Monira Al Qadiri is an artist. Her work is on view at ARKEN, Ishøj, Denmark, until April 6; Perrotin, Dubai, UAE, from 2 March to 18 April; and Berlinische Galerie, Berlin, Germany, until August 17. Ahaad Alamoudi is an artist. Her solo exhibition ‘Sunkissed’ is on view at Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE, until 3 May. Dana Awartani is an artist.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: 4ee63da60ba19d35
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 71,289,038 bytes (67.987 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• ISBN: 3232571417, 0294500200, 6921234037, 2115858840, 2118381204, 2038339155, 2038138400, 2129223745
• Pages: 145
• Language: English (en)

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