All Eyes On Middle Eastern Art: A Talk With Rayan Hakki

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by Sophie She

All Eyes On Middle Eastern Art: A Talk With Rayan Hakki, Khawla Art Gallery

27 Jun 2024

In the bustling heart of Dubai, Khawla Art Gallery serves as a dynamic hub for contemporary creativity, showcasing emerging and established Middle Eastern and international artists. The gallery blends traditional art and culture with innovative expressions, fostering a vibrant artistic dialogue. Through exhibitions, art fairs, and various events, Khawla Art Gallery engages collectors and art enthusiasts, ensuring global visibility for its artists. Its commitment to accessibility extends online, offering viewing rooms for worldwide spectators and buyers. The gallery actively elevates Middle Eastern voices, encouraging local communities to contribute to global cultural conversations.

Leading this artistic venture is H.H. Sheikha Khawla Bint Ahmed Khalifa Al-Suwaidi, a poet, writer, calligrapher, and art critic. She founded Khawla Art & Culture to promote global cultural heritage, emphasising calligraphy. The General Manager of Khawla Art and Culture, Rayan Imad Hakki, a Saudi native raised in Beirut with a background in architecture and arts education from Sotheby's Institute of Art, brings her deep passion for Arabic calligraphy and Middle Eastern cultures to her role. Rayan guides artists and collectors, enriching the local art scene and fostering global appreciation for Middle Eastern art.

— Can you describe the core mission of the gallery?

— We first opened Khawla Art and Culture in Abu Dhabi. It was founded by Her Highness Sheikha Khawla Bint Ahmed Khalifa Al-Suwaidi, with the main idea to promote Arab art globally. Initially she was interested just in Arabic calligraphy and everything that revolves around it. But then she started meeting new artists, seeing the art market and how Arab art is not well promoted either globally or locally, and Her Highness thought about what she and we as a team can do for Arab art and its community.

Now, everyone is collecting Western Art, like European, American, Russian, or something else like Indian art, but not Arab art. So, Her Highness started promoting Arab art in all of its forms, from Arabic calligraphy to figurative and abstract art, mainly pieces from the MENA region and, of course, Turkey and Iran.

In 2019 when Khawla was founded, COVID happened, and we couldn't do anything — no exhibitions, no activations, no nothing. We officially opened the gallery space in 2021 holding our biggest exhibition called Unity in Diversity. In 2021, we gathered 40 artists from all around the world, with 75% of them being Arab. It was a great event with an even better reaction from the audience. Many people loved Arab art, and even some collectors didn't know who these artists were.

The main aim was and is to promote local art and make it visible, to start working on emerging artists. Our renowned artists [meaning Arab artists] are already known in Paris, the US, and Germany, but they are not known here.

Thus, it was like a two-ended vision: first of all, to keep these renowned artists and make them a part of everyday art life, and also discover new emerging artists to showcase them, to promote them, to show a new vision in the markets here. The bigger aim is to have these artists not just known in the region but internationally. So whenever you go to a museum, you want to see more Arab artists there and not just the manuscripts, statues, and everything that is very traditional, but something that is modern and nice. So, it is part awareness and part educational for the young generation.

— How do you maintain this very tender balance between emerging and known artists?

— Okay, so how we do the balance is we get, let's say 50 / 50. 50% of our artists per year are renowned artists, and another 50% are emerging artists.

What we try to do is to showcase them together because, in a way when we are trying to get renowned artists, it is a way to motivate the younger artists to work, and so the wiser professional can teach them. Dubai has become a melting pot for all the artists, and everybody is coming here whether they are international or local. So, what we do is we get these artists of different levels, and we let them educate — give a talk, run a workshop for the younger artists. And the younger artists eventually start having this passion and desire to become alike their mentors.

— How do you select the artists that you would like to represent?

— In the beginning we were having one exhibition every month in our space in D3. It was 12 exhibitions in Dubai and then another 5 or 6 exhibitions in Abu Dhabi, meaning it was a lot.

After 2–3 years, we started carefully selecting which artists to exhibit solo and which to exhibit in a collective. While we are choosing, we try to select artists who have big potential, but don't have a platform to showcase this potential. Mostly young artists in this case. And in other cases, we get renowned artists to exhibit in a way of praising them and educating the community about their art.

2024 is the first year we started having our own artists, meaning we started representing them.

Previously it was mainly to create awareness, showcasing the artists’ works, sharing their voice, hosting workshops, exhibitions, collective exhibitions, etc.

This year we will represent seven new artists that had the best exposure, or they had the perfect journey with us. We worked with them on several exhibitions either in fairs or in external exhibitions, and we felt that they have the potential to grow fast and steadily.

Louma Rabah; Riyadh Ne’mah; Maher Maaoui

— Who are these lucky ones?

— So here we are choosing renowned artists and emerging artists or up and coming, which are Faisel Laibi Sahi, Chaouki Chamoun, Riyadh Ne’mah, Nizar Sabour, Charles Khoury, Louma Rabah, Maher Maaoui, Klay Kassem. These are the artists that we want to promote at art fairs.

But that doesn't mean that we are not going to continue with our several exhibitions per year, as we still want to keep this big awareness part.

And you know, in Arab art, people tend to diminish artists, refusing to pay the price they are worth. So, when we try to represent them, it is not just about us gaining; it is about keeping the standards at a certain level. It is not even about the price, but it is about putting them [Arab artists] in a certain position. It is positioning rather than just earning money on them.

— Tell us about the edutainment activities you run in the gallery.

— So, the gallery is the community. We are not the conventional gallery, where you come into a gallery space without the essence of the exhibiting artist. We want to make a connection between the artists and the viewers.

Among our activities, we host art dinners, approximately four per year. Well, we try to do four per year. We invite a few collectors, a few art enthusiasts, and these young artists who are trying to get into the field. We really try to connect them and subsequently create a community of Arab art.

And what is surprising is that most of our dinners were attended by international people, not locals, and Arab Art was something completely new for them. This experience tends to be so striking; we have encountered many times when foreigners want to learn about Arab art and Arab culture and speak to the artists to get to know each other and connect on a greater level. They want to know about their stories, as when artists are from Lebanon or Syria, and they know about these places only because of some war–news and political issues. But here, there is nothing political, and there is nothing religious, just beauty and creativity.

We come here, we create a community, we want to get the artist's voice heard.

Many artists are shy, introverted and they don't know how to showcase their amazing works. Through these dinners, workshops and lectures, our artists get a sense of confidence, and they start producing and exhibiting more.

Seeing the evolution of Arab art these days is especially heartwarming for us.

— And you are hosting the entertainment events as well, right? I was fascinated by the lectures, because when I was studying art history, I also did a course on Islamic art, and I was very sad about the scarcity of information, actually. Can you describe how you came up with the lectures and workshops?

— The main idea of giving these lectures and workshops and also introducing the researches and the information on our platforms (Website, social media accounts, etc.) is just about the scarcity of information, just like you say.

The founder, Her Highness, she is a poet and an Arabic calligraphy artist. So, when she started learning Arabic calligraphy, she asked her teacher to know more about this history. And there was no information whatsoever; there are almost no books about it, and you cannot find it on social media or on Google or whatever. That is when Her Highness established Khawla Art and Culture and started this research where she can find all about the history of Arabic calligraphy and the Arab culture as a whole and make it accessible to whoever is keen to learn. And this is how the educational part of our Khawla Art and Culture emerged.

We believe that every artist has something to teach, has something to say, and has a way to motivate others. The lecture doesn't have to be academic but rather a safe conversation about one’s creativity.

It is crucial to educate about Arab art. Especially now. For example, even in the office, every member of the team has taken some courses about art, whatever their background is. I, for instance, took online courses at Sotheby’s Art Institute and Christie’s education during COVID-19 to enrich my knowledge of art. While doing so, I realised that there was nothing about Arab art. There was one big course of nine months where we talked about each part of the world but nothing about Arab art.

This is why it is very important for us to start educating people about that, we want people to know and appreciate the MENA ART.

I really hope that to see Arab Art in the curriculum of local and international universities, there should be a course about Arab art and the history of Arab art. I am not saying it has to be the main focal point of it, but everybody is supposed to learn about the whole global art, and not just the bits.

Photo: Rayan's personal archive

— So, as you started during COVID, do you see any improvement in terms of the accessibility of your exhibitions through the digital platforms? And how does it interact?

— Yeah, I mean, we started Khawla Art and Culture, it was right before the pandemic, and we had our hands tied. Our direct response was to shift online; everything that we were doing was mostly documentaries, researches, workshops, classes, and courses that we published on our website and digital platforms, and it was surprisingly very easy. Back then, everybody was at home with nothing to do but sit on their mobile or laptops, and that is where they will see our content. So, it was very accessible.

I can even state that COVID was our peak point because we had a lot happening online, and we managed to help artists even from a distance. Even though you are not allowed to get a photographer to come into one’s art studio, just with their phone, one could take a picture, and we would share it. Our social media was very interactive. Showcasing the works online, we had a lot of people inquiring about the artworks online without even seeing them.

Today, we have our online gallery that comes in very handy during the summer, as there is no need to visit the physical space to purchase art.

With all the digitalisation, you can see the artwork in your house with the VR we have on our website. Answering your question, yes, it became more accessible, it became easier.

Within four years we got some digits and I know 50,000 followers is not that big of a number, but 50,000 followers just dedicated to Arab art, to the culture. I think it is a very good start.

— And if we are going further, that route, talking about the digital impact on the art world, what is your take on digital art? Like, on itself as a medium?

— I think we only worked once during these four years on digital art during the Al Khat Festival. It is a festival that we created and curated, dedicated to Arabic calligraphy, where we tried to give all sorts of Arabic calligraphy forms from jewelry to textiles, sculptures, canvas, works paper, and more, both in traditional and modern styles. And we had Ghaleb Hawila, who participated in NFT calligraphy.

I appreciate all forms of art, but I feel everything related to digital art is going to take a lot of time before being legitimised in a broader sense. Digital is still very new.

Whenever somebody acquires an artwork, they want the artwork signed with a certificate of authenticity to make sure that it is a unique piece. Digital art can be duplicated and altered. So, I think it is going to be a while before people will start collecting digital art.

Our main investment now is the work that you can touch, that you can see, that you can feel. It is the texture, it is not just the visibility of it.

Photo: Rayan's personal archive

— Growing up, who were your main influencers in terms of your interest in arts? Maybe friends or family?

— My grandmother was a big influence on me. She was a writer and a journalist, one of the biggest writers in Lebanon. She had a lot of people coming over from all around the world, gifting her artworks, so she could write about them. Whenever I went to her house, she showed me different artists. I thought to myself something like, “they are trying to get an article from my grandmother, so of course they are not good”, but it turned out that they are the best artists in Lebanon, and she knew them firsthand.

And the other person, I am not being cheesy or anything, but it is really Her Highness. Before I started working with her, I loved art, but I didn't want to do something for it. And after she took me under her wing, I saw her passion for how she wanted to promote the artists, to help them with no personal rewards or awards, completely altruistically. She always told me that we are doing something for the artistic community, and later we will see the rewards. And after all these years, the biggest reward that she sees is whenever she opens the news — it is about Arab art. Whenever she sees what the upcoming auctions in Christie’s and Sotheby’s are — it is Middle Eastern art. The best reward for all of us, really.

It is fair to say she was the one who made me take this passion into business.

— Remembering your journey, when you were learning about art, maybe there were any movements in particular that you loved, that you felt instant love for them?

— Maybe because it is a link between architecture and art. I have always loved Kandinsky, Rodchenko, and Russian constructivism. It’s a mixture of both my passions.

From Arab art, I admire the works of Arab artists who use figurative art in a very modern way, such as Faisel Laibi Sahi, for instance. He is one of my favourite artists, and I am happy to have been part of his exhibit here at Khawla Art Gallery. Ayman Baalbaki, Amer Al Obaidi, and Shawki Youssef are some of the artists that I also admire. There are a lot more, really; I wouldn’t want to choose between them all.

Of course, Etel Adnan and Samia Halabi — these two ladies — created something very different in modern Arab art. Their use of colours and geometry in an abstract form is beautiful. I think what they have done as women from the Arab World, from two places that are very poorly showcased, is incredible.

— I am actually surprised because I am also a fan of the supremacist movement, and usually people say I am mad. But linking it with Arabic calligraphy — how have you found your passion for it?

— I think I was drawn to Arabic calligraphy so much because I somehow saw the geometry in it. I don't know, I always see geometry in Arabic calligraphy, especially when it is made the modern way. Sometimes when you see works of artists like Wissam Shawkat or any modern calligraphy artist, and if you don't understand Arabic, you feel that it is a city plan or something. I feel that it is beautiful because its words and letters can be perceived in many different ways all together.

— And if we are talking about creating the spaces for a regular exhibition, can you walk me through the process? How do you plan it?

— Okay, so everything that we do is teamwork. Every week, we all sit together, including the founder, and we brainstorm. We show each other a selection of artists that we like, and then we start selecting which artists to work with now or later, why, and what is the overarching idea.

During different seasons, different artists are better to showcase. For instance, during Art Dubai, we choose the most renowned artists, so whenever big collectors are coming, they come here. On the other hand, during summer we have a selection for young collectors, so something that is affordable. We always tend to see what is happening around the year and make the selection for the exhibition accordingly.

Then, when the artist is chosen, he/she sends us what they have and we start curating, deciding whether we want to use the existing pieces (for the renowned artists) or it is time for an artist to work on a new concept and for us to lead them in the right direction.

When a well-formulated and experienced artist wants to showcase and time is of essence, we get what he has, and we curate from the works that he has in exhibition. It is funny because usually it goes the other way around. First you have to curate, then they have to work on it, and only then you exhibit.

For example, we had a collaboration with a gallery in Cairo to showcase Ghaleb Hawila. And he had this idea to name the exhibition “Mapping Ego”. It took us around 10 or 20 sit-downs, which are not official sittings, until we reached the final result, and it turned out as a beautiful and new style that Ghaleb had shown.

It is about sitting with the artists, talking to them, seeing what they like more, drawing with them and being present with them, until you get the result that fits.

It is about trusting the artist.

Instagram: @khawlaartgallery

— Switching back to you personally, can you share with me your journey from studying architecture and then going through your journey to becoming the curator and then the General Manager of the gallery? I am just very curious how it happened. How have you decided to become a curator?

— I used to love architecture ever since I was little. But studying architecture is different. I studied in Lebanon, at the Académie Libanaise des Beaux Arts. We studied a lot of art history courses, and courses related to Arts. 50 % was purely technical, and the other 50 % was artistic. And I think the only thing that made me finish my studies was the art part. I couldn't stay on the laptop for hours and work on technical tasks.

I came to the UAE from Lebanon, and COVID happened, thus I couldn't go back home, and I couldn't stay here without doing anything. So, I took on an internship at Khawla Art and Culture. And with the process, I started learning a lot about Arab art, I found a passion for showcasing my culture and my region. I was fascinated by the jewels you could find in the art world here, and I gave up everything for it, which was the best decision. There is art, there are exhibitions, talks, lectures, dinners, and events happening everywhere. So, it is a very fulfilling job that one can be in.

I don't think anyone from the office has a purely art background. We are all from different backgrounds and fell in love with the idea of promoting our local culture.

I became a director of the gallery when we opened the space, as we wanted to host all these events, and we believed we needed a physical ground. We already had the academic part, but we didn't have the place to showcase the works, or host events and exhibitions.

— Do you think your background in architecture influences your decisions when you are creating an exhibition?

— Of course. You know, architecture has a lot of art in it. The beauty of the building is not only about the building itself but also about the surrounding environment.

Knowing how to position things helped me a lot in getting ahead of planning exhibitions. I think my background influenced everything because architecture is core to whatever you want to do — from business to the arts.

"Light of wisdom" by Elbahi Belkheiri (2023); "The embrace" by Elbahi Belkheiri (2023); "Al Rahma" by Ghaleb Hawila (2023) / Al Khatt Festival — 2023

— What are your favourite projects so far within the four years?

— Of course, Al Khatt Festival. That is my all-time favourite. One, because it is our main focus. And two… I was back in Lebanon, and Her Highness always told me about her desire to do an exhibition for Arabic calligraphy, but we didn't know when to do it then because of COVID and everything. And so, when I was in Lebanon, I was on a street called Daraj el Fan in Arabic. This is an art street. Not even a street but a staircase from one area to another.

I was there, cherishing memories of liveliness in this space, and telling a friend of mine, Jihad, who is also our curator now, that we wanted to do this calligraphy exhibition, but I had no idea how. We wanted it to be a festival because we wanted to let people come, enjoy it, and have fun. And Jihad simply said — do it here, on this staircase. I got excited.

I called the founder and told her about the idea, let's do the exhibition in Lebanon. That was one month after the explosion. She trusts everyone she works with very openly, and so she got excited for the idea.

As soon as we had the idea there, we got on a Zoom call and started to brainstorm on which artists to exhibit. She directly came up with the idea to choose Lebanon-based creators, in order to motivate them during these hard times, and we really did it. We had the first festival on the stairs with eight Arabic calligraphy artworks. We sold every single piece, but the biggest reward was to restore this community after all the traumatic things that happened in that place.

Oh, and you won’t believe it, but it was during COVID, after the explosion. On the very first day of the festival, we had 500 people — just on the stairs. We had a violinist who was playing. There was a speech about Arabic calligraphy from the institute. And I believe everyone present started seeing Arabic calligraphy as an artform at this very day.

We had such a success; Her Highness has told us we have to do it every year. The second year we did it again in Lebanon, but instead of four, we had over 12 artists with not just works on paper, but we exhibited everything from jewelry to furniture, textile works, etc. And it was truly amazing

And the most recent time we hosted the festival in two different cities. In Abu Dhabi we had the traditional calligraphy, and in Dubai we displayed the modern calligraphy. I think it was our most successful exhibition.

— What inspires you most in your work when you are working in the art world?

— I would say it is working with the artists on a one-on-one level. It is talking to them, being able to sit with them, learn from them, work with them. It is very fun because an artist's life is very different from the regular, corporate life — they don't have working hours, so they call you in the middle of the night, and it is hard, but it keeps you going and inspires you. I keep on learning things from them daily.

— Looking at the modern market, what trends do you see emerging in the Middle Eastern market? How does the gallery respond to it?

— The biggest trend now is installations. Everybody is happy to see an installation, even though they cannot acquire it.

But as a style, I think figurative Arab art is what has always been a trend.

— Which pieces do you have at your home? What pieces do you own?

— I started collecting four years ago and most of my pieces are also figurative. I have Amer Al Obaidi. I love his Arabian horses done in a very abstract way. Others are for Annie Kurkdjian, Jamil Molaeb, Hooman Bayat, and more.

I have also collected a lot of calligraphy pieces and my favourite one is in my office — it is Ghaleb Hawila’s Arabic calligraphy piece. It is very modern, as you can't understand what is written inside, and it has a geometric background, which I love.

I have a lot of Lebanese artists, Persian art, and some fascinating miniature pieces.

Most of the works that I have at my house are from the Khawla Art Gallery.

— And the thirst for calligraphy comes from Her Highness?

— It comes from working in Khawla Arts and Culture. Prior, I had no idea about the beauty of Arabic calligraphy.

When I started learning about the 220 different fonts and seeing that not one work is like the other, I fell in love with it.

— What do you like to do in your free time, when you are just relaxing and trying to free your head?

— I like to draw. I am not an artist at all, but I like it because it is about putting your emotions into something.

I created a certain lettering that only I understand. It is an alphabet that nobody but me understands.

Sometimes, when I gift someone something, I make an inscription about this person in my language and give it to them.

And sometimes I can just ruin someone’s day and say the best of things on this piece for fun, and then imagine they put it in their house saying — yeah, this is what Rayan gifted me — not understanding a thing, while what is actually written might not really, please them.

— Okay, now I know I will have to watch out for gifts from you.

[Both laugh]

by Sophie She