Drawn from the collection of the Barjeel Art Foundation, artworks in the exhibition reflect the manifold ways in which artists in the Arab world have responded to socio-political events and the human condition across the twentieth century. The selection offers an opportunity to explore the heterogeneity of regional art and its many histories, striving to propose an expanded vision of modernism. The title of the exhibition is inspired by verses from Etel Adnan’s Night, 2016, where she writes:

Memory sews together events that hadn’t previously met.
It reshuffles the past and makes us aware that it is doing so.

In offering a broad retrospective look at the region’s highly varied artistic milieu, this exhibition brings together a plurality of art schools, movements, and figures whose histories may or may not have palpably intersected over the course of the century. In presenting a multiplicity of voices and praxis that emerged from the region and its diasporas in a shared space, the display invites visitors to (re)consider the reading of past events, and offers an opportunity for both—focused investigations, and comparative studies of modern art practices across the Arab world. 

This exhibition is part of Barjeel Art Foundation’s long-term collaboration with the Sharjah Art Museum.