Green Art Gallery is celebrating its 30th anniversary this month. None of the existing contemporary art galleries are nearly as old, and anything in Dubai that can celebrate a two-digit anniversary is a feat in itself.

To mark the occasion, this was published by the director of the gallery, Yasmin Atassi.

It started as an adventure: in 1987, two sisters driven by an immense pride in their Arab roots and a fierce passion for art and culture opened a small bookstore in their hometown of Homs, Syria. Mouna and Mayla Atassi’s space came to attract the intelligentsia – poets, writers, artists – and became an intellectual meeting point. When Mayla moved to Dubai, she partnered with Amnah Al Dabbagh and the ‘bookstore’ was reborn in a small villa in the Jumeirah district in 1995 as Green Art Gallery. An intimate salon d’art dedicated to Arab modernism, it introduced to the UAE the art of pioneering Arab masters including Fateh Moudarres, Louay Kayyali, Dia Azzawi, Paul Guiragossian, Ismail Fattah, Hussein Madi, Suad Al Attar and Mona Saudi, among countless others. My mother, Mayla was passionate about the art and culture of our region, and felt it was imperative to showcase, celebrate and be inspired from it.
When she passed away after a courageous battle with cancer in 2007, I was 25 years old and had just graduated from a degree in Computer Science. I had no plans to venture into the arts. A year later, just as the financial crisis was unfolding, I decided to continue her legacy. Since the very beginning, I have and continue to be interested in working with artists who help us question the way we see the world – the kind of artists who produce art that is critically representative of our current moment, within local, regional and international contexts.

You can read the rest here.

I also recommend you read this article written in 2017 by Myrna Ayad for Art Dubai’s website, FROM A HOMS LIBRARY TO A DUBAI GALLERY: The Story of Green Art Gallery.

I remember visiting Green Art Gallery when it was still in Jumeirah, near Dubai Zoo. It moved to Alserkal Avenue in 2010, and even if it makes sense commercially, I do miss the days when more galleries where in different parts of town instead of being lumped together in one area, and all to look alike.
Consolidation seems to be the quick and easy solution for many decision makers today, even more than the recent past. Part of the experience of visiting art spaces is to also engage with the city, its architecture and public spaces. But I digress…

These are my top three favourite exhibitions from the past decade:

Modernist Women of Egypt (May 22 – July 27, 2017)
Wael Hattar and I interviewed Yasmin Atassi about the exhibition for our Tea with Culture podcast.