DUBAI: Saudi Arabia’s Hafez Gallery is making its debut at Frieze London with “Dialogue of Forms,” a presentation bringing together Egyptian artist Ahmed Nawar and Bahrain-born Saudi artist Faisal Samra.
Running from Oct. 14-18 at Regent’s Park, the showcase explores the relationship between drawing, sculpture and the human body, placing two pioneering artists from the Arab world in conversation.
“Since Hafez Gallery opened in Jeddah, our purpose has been to support Saudi and Arab artists and to give them a place in the wider conversation,” founder Qaswra Hafez told Arab News. “Frieze London is one of the best opportunities to get that conversation going.”
The presentation features Nawar’s “Irada Watan” series, comprising felt-tip pen drawings on paper. Dense black-and-white compositions bring together geometric patterns and human forms, exploring memory, endurance and experiences of conflict.
Samra’s contribution comes from his “Suspended Transformations” series, featuring mixed-media sculptures made from wire mesh and fabric. The translucent, suspended forms shift with the light and viewers’ movements.
Together, the works examine how the body carries memory and responds to historical upheaval, despite the artists’ distinct approaches.
“Nawar works flat. In his economy of black and white, line carries everything: density, movement, time,” Hafez said. “Samra takes the body off the wall entirely. His sculptures hang, translucent, and they change as you walk around them.
“The pairing tells a story too … different generations, different countries, different mediums, and they arrive at the same questions. That’s what we believe about art from the Arab world. It isn’t one style or one story; it’s a set of voices in conversation,” Hafez said, adding that each artist questions what memory does to the body “and how human will (survives) historical rupture.”
Nawar is a prominent figure in modern and contemporary Egyptian art, while Samra is regarded as an early pioneer of conceptual art in the Gulf. Their works are held in collections including the British Museum and Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art.
For Hafez, the presentation also reflects the growing international visibility of Saudi Arabia’s cultural landscape.
“Platforms like Frieze let the world see that this growth has depth and history behind it,” he said, adding that relationships built in London could help strengthen the art scene back home in Jeddah.