BOLDtalks's video: The Middle East Women Art - Sara Masinaei - BOLDtalks Woman 2016

Middle East is propagated with conflicts, and art is a removed notion associated with this region; yet, one of the world’s largest modern art collections and some of the most successful art fairs and biennials are regularly organized and widely visited here. Contributing to the growing development of art and cultural endeavors as well as revival of traditional crafts is the diligence and tenacious efforts of its female population. When considering the proliferation of art-related practices in relation to gender, it is particularly significant to review and credit the statistics of women in art in the recent decades to highlight the significant role women have come play in shifting the collective and preconceived notions of art in Middle East. In this talk, Sara will be reviewing some of the statistics and providing examples of the above topic. Sara Masinaei (°1982, Tehran, Iran) is a poet and a multidisciplinary artist. She approaches a range of socio-cultural subjects in a multi-layered manner to debate original ethnic and global cultural narratives beyond subjective limits of our practice of ‘democracy’ in the contemporary moment, ideas that can go unnoticed in their original context. Using a variety of mediums including but not limited to photography, performance, installation and assemblage, all of which are informed by the notion of form following conceptuality in a work of art, Masinaei attempts to actively and sometimes physically engage the viewer. She completed her bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts with a focus in photography from the American University of Dubai (2004). After a six-year career in photography, art research and art management, Masinaei returned to fine arts and received her MFA with Merit from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, University of Arts, London (2011). In addition to exhibiting extensively in Tehran, Dubai and London, Masinaei continues to conduct research in a variety of topics pertaining to art movements and developments in the Middle East. She currently resides and works in Dubai.