We rarely discuss photography from the Middle East. But things are changing here. East Wing has just opened a new gallery with an international outlook in Dubai, UAE, headed by artistic director Peggy Sue Amison. We’ve decided to devote a special day to the new gallery.
East Wing, is a unique center for photography, originally founded in Doha, Qatar in 2012. The organization launched a new gallery space in Dubai, UAE this past March. Working both within the region and internationally, the aim of East Wing is to open new dialogues through photography, with a programme focused on curating and commissioning contemporary photographic projects of global importance.
Even without a physical gallery space, East Wing has created quite a stir at Paris Photo and Unseen Amsterdam art fairs since 2012, presenting a wide range of exciting new works by contemporary photographic artists with themes ranging from next generation Japanese photographers such as; Mayumi Hosokura and Daisuke Yokota (one of Foam Talents and the winner of the Outset | Unseen Exhibition Fund in 2013), to hard hitting topics on surveillance, the Syrian civil war and concomitant arms trade which were illustrated in the work of artists: Martin Roemers, Phillip Toledano, Philippe Dudouit, Tiane Doan na Champassak, Mari Bastashevski, Edmund Clark and Frederic Lezmi.
During this time East Wing has also championed works by emerging artists; Masood Kamandy, Boushra Almutawkel, Newsha Tavakolian, Waheeda Mulullah and Cristina De Middel.
The new gallery space in Dubai has hosted insightful solo exhibitions of Tanya Habjouqa’s, “Occupied Pleasures” and Max Pam’s, “Ramadam in Yemen”, as well as group shows “Cairo: Open City – Testimonies from an Ongoing Revolution” which was exhibited in March and April 2014 and “The Other Hundred” which opens on the 16th of September. Future projects will include exhibitions of “Foam Talents 2014” in November and Prix Pictet in January, and upcoming solo exhibitions by Thierry Cohen, in late October and George Awde in 2015. East Wing will also develop a series of educational initiatives to support development of artistic photographic practice in the region.
For more information about:
East Wing: http://www.east-wing.org
East Wing
#12 Limestone House
DIFC
Dubai
United Arab Emirates.
