Art Basel Paris 2025 Highlights Intimate Material Practices from MENA Galleries
Art Basel Paris 2025 showcased a variety of galleries from the Middle East and North Africa, such as Marfa’ Projects (Beirut), ATHR Gallery (Jeddah), and Selma Feriani Gallery (Tunis/London), all presenting innovative artworks. The fair emphasized the domestic environment to delve into themes of desire and social limits. Marfa’ Projects exhibited Mohamad Abdouni’s Soft Skills series (2024), which critiques Lebanese masculinity, as well as Ahmad Ghossein’s A Sealed Gallon (2023), reflecting on Lebanon’s 2020 fuel crisis, and Paola Yacoub’s reliefs (1995) that explore trauma. ATHR Gallery highlighted Saudi women artists like Sarah Abu Abdallah and Hayfa Algwaiz, whose A Woman’s Body (2025) questions visibility, while Selma Feriani Gallery displayed Zineb Sedira and Nadia Ayari, focusing on historical legacies and gender.
Key facts
- Art Basel Paris 2025 included galleries from the Middle East and North Africa.
- Marfa’ Projects, ATHR Gallery, and Selma Feriani Gallery were among the compelling presentations.
- Mohamad Abdouni’s Soft Skills series (2024) critiques Lebanese masculinity through aluminium and resin sculptures.
- Ahmad Ghossein’s A Sealed Gallon (2023) references Lebanon’s 2020 fuel crisis with resin bottles.
- Paola Yacoub’s reliefs (1995) cast bullet holes from Beirut’s Green Line using hardwood paste.
- ATHR Gallery featured Saudi women artists Sarah Abu Abdallah, Hayfa Algwaiz, and Lulua Alyahya.
- Hayfa Algwaiz’s painting A Woman’s Body (2025) echoes Francis Bacon’s Figure with Meat (1954).
- Nidhal Chamekh’s Frictions series (2024) hybridizes Greco-Roman and West African aesthetic systems.
Entities
Artists
- Mohamad Abdouni
- Ahmad Ghossein
- Caline Aoun
- Tamara Al-Samerraei
- Majd Abdel Hamid
- Paola Yacoub
- Sarah Abu Abdallah
- Hayfa Algwaiz
- Lulua Alyahya
- Manal Al Dowayan
- Lulwah Al Homoud
- Zineb Sedira
- Monia Ben Hamouda
- Nidhal Chamekh
- Nadia Ayari
- Yann Lacroix
- Aymen Mbarki
- Joumana Asseily
- Francis Bacon
- Édouard Glissant
Institutions
- Art Basel Paris
- Marfa’ Projects
- ATHR Gallery
- Selma Feriani Gallery
- Canvas
Locations
- Paris
- France
- Beirut
- Lebanon
- Jeddah
- Saudi Arabia
- Tunis
- Tunisia
- London
- United Kingdom
- Bekaa Valley
- Green Line