DUBAI: MENART Fair will return to Paris from Oct. 23-25 with its seventh event, bringing together artists and galleries from the Middle East, North Africa and their diasporas under the theme “Where Is Home?”
Held during Paris Art Week at Galerie Joseph, the fair will explore ideas of home through memory, language, identity, territory and inherited histories.
The 2026 event will feature a notable presence from the UAE and wider Gulf, with participating galleries including Dubai’s Amal Rakibi Gallery, Firetti Contemporary and Nasij; Abu Dhabi’s Artbooth Gallery and K Gallery; and Muscat’s Stal Gallery.
Among the featured artists is Dubai-based Palestinian-Canadian artist Samar Hejazi, presented by Nasij.
Following her contribution to the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s “Costume Art” exhibition in New York earlier this year, Hejazi will present a solo booth in Paris. Her multidisciplinary practice spans textiles, sculpture, installation and printmaking, drawing on craft traditions to examine perception and identity. Her thread installation “Maw6ini” (2018) will feature in the fair’s catalogue.
Qatari artist Ebtisam Al-Saffar, presented by Quartum Galleri, explores facial expression and natural landscapes through abstract expressionism, including in her painting “White” (2026). The gallery will also present Kuwait-born Palestinian painter Dalia Ali, whose layered compositions examine concealment and revelation.
Other participating artists include Dubai-based Omani artist Fahad Salim, whose paintings and digital works explore the human experience through vivid color and stylized forms, and French-Tunisian artist Taher Jaoui. Born in Tunisia and based in Dubai, Jaoui combines expressive gestures, mathematical symbols and vibrant colors, drawing on his scientific background and abstract expressionism.
The program will also introduce the Coup de Cœur Boucheron, a new award recognizing a female artist from the MENA region. The initiative extends the partnership between the French jewelry house and the fair, which began in 2024.
Founded in Paris in 2021 by Laure d’Hauteville, the fair is dedicated to modern and contemporary art from the Middle East, North Africa and their diasporas.