The Best Art Stories from Sekka Magazine - September 2021

At Large October 1, 2021 Art & Object Staff

Courtesy of Sekka Magazine

Digital artwork by Emirati artist Sumayyah Alsuwaidi

Art & Object is excited to announce a new partnership with Sekka Magazine. Founded in 2017 by Manar and Sharifah Alhinai, Sekka is an online arts and culture platform that highlights remarkable stories from around the Arab world. Sekka's mission is to reclaim "the narrative about the Arab World and specifically the Gulf Arab States, in international media, by providing [their] global audience with an authentic insight and guide to one of the most important and misunderstood regions in the world, narrated by the people who are from there." Sekka works with journalists across the Arab world, and ninety percent of the content creators in Sekka Magazine are Arab women.

Each month, Art & Object will highlight Sekka's five best new art stories. Our hope is that our readers come away from these stories more knowledgeable about this culturally rich part of the world but also are able to emotionally connect with art and artists that they might not otherwise have been exposed to.

Courtesy of Sekka Magazine

Sumayyah Al Suwaidi: What it Means to be of One the GCC’s First Digital Artists

"Sumayyah is an award-winning Emirati artist and curator who started practicing digital art in 1996, when she was just 16 years old, the same year a digital artwork by Emirati artist Jalal Luqman was exhibited in the UAE for the very first time..."

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Courtesy of Sekka Magazine

Khalid Al Shaqsi: “The Donkey is Part of Our Culture”

“'Art is a way of life. We have to see art in everything surrounding us,' states Khalid Alshaqsi. The 24-year-old emerging photographer sees art in his country Oman. “Oman, with its seas, mountains, valleys and people are my inspiration, and I seek to depict them in a modern way,” he says. His work titled The Donkey is Part of our Culture, 'speaks about the past and the present of some people in our society that depend on this incredible creature to carry out their daily tasks, and cannot live without it...'"

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Courtesy of Sekka Magazine

Israa Al Balushi and Dominika Jezewska’s Work Explores the Fragility of Reality

"Omani artist Israa Al Balushi and Polish artist’s Dominika Jezewska’s latest augmented reality installation, Anatomy of Perception, explores the fragility of our reality, and in a physical art experience deprived world, provides us with an opportunity to explore art from the comfort of our devices..."

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Courtesy of Sekka Magazine

several images of urban materials in a grid pattern

Hussain Almoosawi on Originality and Raw Inspiration

"Sixteen years ago, in an Australian winter, I warmed to the idea of owning my first digital SLR camera. Compared to the fully-manual film counterpart I was trained with, the digital version promised to offer me more freedom and control over what I wanted to photograph, and would allow me to embark on a journey of creative self-discovery..."

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Courtesy of Sekka Magazine

Images of Alfarsi artwork on gallery walls

How Alia Alfarsi Preserves Omani Identity Through Her Art

"Located in the Rusayl Industrial Estate on the Muscat Expressway in Oman is Alia Gallery. Opened in January 2020, the art gallery is home to more than 120 artworks, including paintings on canvas, but also includes different styles of arts on furniture, stones, and wood, all by artist Alia Al Farsi, a renowned Omani artist who has exhibited her work in Paris, Brussels, Geneva, Tokyo and Seoul. Every artist and art gallery tells a story and has an inspiration behind their work..."

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