Rose Issa, the visionary of Arab world art. (Credit: Sueraya Shaheen)
Though she describes herself as “semi-retired,” she splits her time between Nice — where she bought a seafront apartment, unable to afford one in Beirut, she told L’Orient-Le Jour — and London. The white-haired, bright-eyed woman, who will soon celebrate 45 years of “artistic projects,” remains as curious and enthusiastic as ever. She is driven by a strong sense of urgency to share what she loves and to keep promoting contemporary art from her native region.One of the first, in the 1980s, to connect Middle Eastern artists with Western institutions, she still works internationally as a curator and also publishes art books on the Arab and Iranian worlds.In the past few months, she curated “Ex-Voto,” a group show of Arab artists in London, and published the first monograph of Yemeni artist Nasser al-Aswadi, who is now exhibiting in...
Though she describes herself as “semi-retired,” she splits her time between Nice — where she bought a seafront apartment, unable to afford one in Beirut, she told L’Orient-Le Jour — and London. The white-haired, bright-eyed woman, who will soon celebrate 45 years of “artistic projects,” remains as curious and enthusiastic as ever. She is driven by a strong sense of urgency to share what she loves and to keep promoting contemporary art from her native region.One of the first, in the 1980s, to connect Middle Eastern artists with Western institutions, she still works internationally as a curator and also publishes art books on the Arab and Iranian worlds.In the past few months, she curated “Ex-Voto,” a group show of Arab artists in London, and published the first monograph of Yemeni artist Nasser al-Aswadi, who is now...
