Archiving Arab Art
With a quick Google search, the entirety of Ai Weiei’s works can find its way onto one’s screen, complete with dates, descriptions, titles and any other information one might need. Attempt the same with Shakir Hassan Al Said, one of Iraq’s most influential artists, and one might need to do much more than a quick Google search. Resources and institutions that successfully archive Arab art are few and far between, a fact that Sara Jazara ’15 refuses to accept.
“Someone has to create this archive,” she says, “so I will.”
Jazara’s interest in art, particularly Arab art, was sparked in the classroom back at King’s, where she took AP Art History. “I’ve always loved art, and AP Art History solidified that,” she says. “Art reveals so much about culture, and I find that fascinating.” While the AP course could be considered the first step towards her career as an art historian and archivist, it was a senior elective that marked the beginning Jazara’s dedication to her own history: The Modern Middle East. In this course,
Jazara learned about the Arab world’s more recent history, including the Suez Crisis, Algerian independence, the Nakbeh, and other moments in Arab history that shaped Jordan and the region. “How did I know so much about the Roman Empire and almost nothing about what happened just two generations ago!?” Jazara says, adding, “that course definitely sparked a flame.”
When it came time to apply to universities, Jazara knew that she wanted to pursue art history, and what better place to do so than Florence,
When Sara Jazara ’15 discovered that most Arab art ends up in private collections and is never seen by the public, she decided to make it her life’s mission to change that.
BY AHMED KHALAYLEH '15Sara Jazara ’15 working at Local Industries Fatigued Ten Horses Converse with Nothing – Kadhim Hayder
Italy – the Marist College campus to be specific. “It was a study abroad hub, so a lot of the students were there to experience the European lifestyle and have fun, but I was there to learn,” she adds. During her first year there, Jazara took advantage of her prime location, infatuated by the art around her, learning as much as she could. Upon starting her second year it dawned on her that she had learned almost nothing about Arab art, and the flame sparked in her Modern Middle East course ignited. She decided to take some of the institution’s “international” courses, only to find that these courses only expanded her horizon to America and China – hardly the focus of her interest.
museums and exhibitions, “private collectors in Jordan are very protective over the art in their possession,” Jazara explains. She attributes this to the possibility that Arab culture requires that one practice humility and not flaunt one’s wealth, making many collectors hesitant to do otherwise, despite the option to remain anonymous in said archive.
As her two-year fellowship with the MMAG Foundation came to an end, Jazara realized that the archiving project was a formidable undertaking. “This is going to be my life,” she says, “and while I’m looking for funding now, I know that this is eventually going to be its own institution, relying on its own funding, and making art
constitutes art to what information to document about that art had to be heavily considered. “I feel I have to unlearn everything I know, because I was trained by Western institutions to study Western art, and so the way I study and appreciate art is influenced by that.”
This discussion series was also a response to her experience with the art scene in Amman, which at times can be exclusive and elitist. “You’re either culturally elite and can speak that language, or you have enough money to be a part of it,” she explains. The art in question often revolves around issues that affect the masses, the common person, and yet remains inaccessible to the very people it represents, such as Jazara’s own grandmother. “Art has become an experience, and there are still so many barriers between you and that experience,” says Jazara.
A couple of years later, Bachelor’s degree in hand, Jazara ended up back in Amman. But graduation didn’t mean she was done with studying. Jazara’s eagerness to continue learning led her to a research fellowship at the Mohammad and Mahera Abu Ghazaleh (MMAG) Foundation, where she conducted research related to the archiving of private collections. She discovered that a great deal of Arab art ends up in private collections and galleries and is never seen by the public. “It seems we lack an archive for Arab art,” she says, which means that “Arab artists are working with very little reference.”
Jazara’s responsibility was to track down and archive these private collections, making them available for anyone to see. This proved difficult. While it is common practice elsewhere for art collectors to lend their art to
from the region free and accessible to anyone that’s interested.”
With such a big project, Jazara explains, come a lot of questions that need answers and challenges that need to be faced: “What do I even include in the archive? Do I include any art I’ve seen? What do we consider art? What do we consider Arab?”
To attempt to tackle these difficult questions, Jazara began a discussion series called “Around the Archive.” At times, these discussions got heated, such as the first couple of sessions that attempted to define “Arab” and “art,” but it was exactly these types of discussions that Jazara wanted. “I want to poke these holes, because they either reaffirm what I believe or force me to rethink everything.”
And Jazara had a fair share of rethinking to do. Everything from what
Despite having achieved a great deal with her research on private collections and her successful discussion series, Jazara still has a great deal more she plans to do before tackling the beast of an archiving project. In addition to planning a second discussion series in 2023, Jazara is working on smaller archiving projects to hone her skills in preparation. One such project is to document and archive her grandmother’s life stories and possessions. Another very exciting project, shared by Jazara with the author of this article, will remain a secret for now, as per Jazara’s request. Once these passion projects come to fruition, Jazara will be well on her way to achieving her mission of creating the region’s first comprehensive, free and easy-to-access archive of Arab art, surely making a name for herself as an art historian.
First session of discussion series, “Around the Archive”