The opening of Ishara Art Foundation at Alserkal Avenue in March 2019 was a significant stride for local representation of contemporary South Asian artists. While there were other spaces that presented works by artists from that region and its diaspora, there wasn’t a dedicated institution that incorporated a South Asian focus into its core mission.
“I felt there was a lack of space that focused on these nations,” says Smita Prabhakar, the foundation’s founder. It was surprising, given that India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have had a long-standing relationship with the Gulf, going back to when fishing and pearl diving were the pillars of the regional economy.
Ishara was founded to fill that gap. The non-profit included Abdelmonem Alserkal as an honorary chairman of the board of trustees, as well as key cultural figures from the local scene, such as Myrna Ayad, Hoda Barakat, Mustafa Hashemi, Abdul Hamid Juma, Colm Mcloughlin, Samer Saifi, Rajan Sehgal, and Abdul Fattah Sharaf. The team was also bolstered by an advisory board that included Richard Armstrong, former director of the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, as well as curators Maya Allison, Sandhini Poddar, and artists Bharti Kher and Chittrovanu Mazumdar.
To have a space in Dubai that showed the dynamic artistic landscape of South Asia was pivotal, Prabhakar says. But there was another angle that inspired the entrepreneur, who is also the director of the AMS International Group, to launch Ishara.
As political tensions and rifts splintered relationships between several South Asian countries, the Gulf – specifically the UAE – had the potential to provide a space to explore artistic links in that region, an endeavour that would be much harder to do back home.
“Because of the political issues that are in play [in South Asia], a lot of people are not able to show in other countries. They can only show in their own countries,” Prabhakar says. She adds that she finds the fact tragic, especially considering how intertwined the histories of the different countries are.
“It's very, very sad that people, that artists, are not able to meet each other,” she says. “And the public in these countries is not able to see what their counterparts [in neighbouring countries] are doing.”
“There is actually tragedy in that,” she says. “It’s a subcontinent. We were all one people. Unless you hear the name, you couldn’t even tell which country we were from.”
The inaugural exhibition at Ishara tried to reflect on some of these issues, from displacement and the shifting concept of identity to the migrant experience in the Gulf.
Altered Inheritances: Home is a Foreign Place, opened in March 2019 and ran until July of that year. The exhibition put the works of artists Shilpa Gupta and Zarina in an intergenerational conversation. The use of texts and visual metaphor were an overlap between their disparate practices. While Zarina’s works drew from her own journeys, Gupta’s art materialised from the travels of others.
In Altered Inheritances – 100 (Last Name) Stories, for instance, Gupta highlighted the stories of 100 individuals who chose to forgo their last names, either because it put their lives at risk or simply because it facilitated their professional success. Zarina’s Home/Ghar, on the other hand, presents the layout of the artist’s childhood home in Aligarh, a city in India’s Uttar Pradesh. Her print Faasla/Distance, meanwhile, lists the miles that spanned her past in Aligarh with her life in New York’s Manhattan.
“When I went to first meet Zarina in New York, she [lived] in a neighborhood that was very Asian, there was a kebab shop, a tandoori chicken shop, things like that,” Prabhakar says. “I went up to her room to her apartment, which was also her studio. And she had a very simple bed. The bed was actually very reminiscent of her. We have in India these beds that are made of wood, which are called takhet. All her works were under this takhet.”
Prabhakar had got the artist a box of dates from Dubai and when it was time to part ways, Zarina insisted on presenting her with an artwork. The meeting, which took place some time in 2017, left an impact on Prabhakar, and alongside the nature of Zarina’s artwork, Prabhakar says she thought back to that moment as plans to open Ishara materialised.
She had already amassed an impressive collection of Zarina’s works, but the foundation still needed another artist to feature in its inaugural exhibition. Prabhakar had also known Gupta for some time, and to her, their works naturally resonated with each other. She says she was touched by the “trust that Shilpa placed in me”.
While Gupta was able to attend the opening, Zarina unfortunately was not. It was especially a shame given that Zarina’s work was pivotal to the foundation’s visual identity. Its logo, after all, which combines a circle and a square, is rooted in an ideogram by the artist that alludes to the word "aasman", or sky, derivatives of which can be found in Arabic, Hindi, Persian, Swahili and Urdu.
“It was my deepest regret that Zarina was not able to come,” Prabhakar says. “She was not well.” Zarina, who was in her early 80s at the time, was seeking medical treatment. The artist died in August 2020.
Over the past five years, Ishara Art Foundation has organised several moving and memorable exhibitions that have been distinctive offerings in the local arts scene. Prabhakar says she is immensely proud of the team, headed by curator Sabih Ahmed, and the effect they have had on the foundation and its vision.
“The fact that they've been able to achieve world-class shows on a limited budget, because we are completely self-funded, is amazing,” she says. “The fact that Ishara is so well thought of, and that I am able to be its chairperson. What more can I ask?”
The foundation itself owns no works, and while its exhibitions may occasionally draw from Prabhakar’s collection of contemporary South Asian works, she emphasises that her personal considerations have little to do with the team’s daily efforts.
“We don't buy or sell, I don’t want to go there,” she says. Even when it comes to her own personal collection, Prabhakar says it remains distinct from the mission and focus of the foundation.
One of the things the entrepreneur, however, is proud of contributing, is helping to establish a space that is modular.
“The lighting is world class,” she says. “We spent a fortune on lighting, and I don't regret it for one minute.”
The space’s flexibility, lighting and ability to adapt to the nature of each show is evident to anyone who has visited the space for more than one exhibition. The foundation puts on an average of two shows every year, and dramatically adapts to reflect upon the themes and content of each exhibition.
The foundation is currently showing Sheher, Prakriti, Devi – a group exhibition that brings together works by Chamba Rumal, Chiara Camoni, Gauri Gill, Ladhki Devi, Mariam Suhail, Meera Mukherjee, Mrinalini Mukherjee, Rashmi Kaleka, Shefalee Jain, Sukanya Ghosh, Vinnie Gill and Yoshiko Crow.
Results:
6.30pm: Handicap | US$135,000 (Dirt) | 1,400 metres
Winner: Rodaini, Connor Beasley (jockey), Ahmad bin Harmash (trainer)
7.05pm: Handicap | $135,000 (Turf) | 1,200m
Winner: Ekhtiyaar, Jim Crowley, Doug Watson
7.40pm: Dubai Millennium Stakes | Group 3 | $200,000 (T) | 2,000m
Winner: Spotify, James Doyle, Charlie Appleby
8.15pm: UAE Oakes | Group 3 | $250,000 (D) | 1,900m
Winner: Divine Image, William Buick, Charlie Appleby
8.50pm: Zabeel Mile | Group 2 | $250,000 (T) | 1,600m
Winner: Mythical Image, William Buick, Charlie Appleby
9.20pm: Handicap | $135,000 (T) | 1,600m
Winner: Major Partnership, Kevin Stott, Saeed bin Suroor
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
MATCH INFO
Manchester United 1 (Rashford 36')
Liverpool 1 (Lallana 84')
Man of the match: Marcus Rashford (Manchester United)
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
THE SPECS
Engine: 3.5-litre V6
Transmission: six-speed manual
Power: 325bhp
Torque: 370Nm
Speed: 0-100km/h 3.9 seconds
Price: Dh230,000
On sale: now
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
World ranking (at month’s end)
Jan - 257
Feb - 198
Mar - 159
Apr - 161
May - 159
Jun – 162
Currently: 88
Year-end rank since turning pro
2016 - 279
2015 - 185
2014 - 143
2013 - 63
2012 - 384
2011 - 883
HIJRA
Starring: Lamar Faden, Khairiah Nathmy, Nawaf Al-Dhufairy
Director: Shahad Ameen
Rating: 3/5
TRAINING FOR TOKYO
A typical week's training for Sebastian, who is competing at the ITU Abu Dhabi World Triathlon on March 8-9:
- Four swim sessions (14km)
- Three bike sessions (200km)
- Four run sessions (45km)
- Two strength and conditioning session (two hours)
- One session therapy session at DISC Dubai
- Two-three hours of stretching and self-maintenance of the body
ITU Abu Dhabi World Triathlon
For more information go to www.abudhabi.triathlon.org.
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
Squid Game season two
Director: Hwang Dong-hyuk
Stars: Lee Jung-jae, Wi Ha-joon and Lee Byung-hun
Rating: 4.5/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
Price, base / as tested: Dh182,178
Engine: 3.7-litre V6
Power: 350hp @ 7,400rpm
Torque: 374Nm @ 5,200rpm
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 10.5L / 100km
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3ECompany%20name%3A%20CarbonSifr%3Cbr%3EStarted%3A%202022%3Cbr%3EBased%3A%20Dubai%3Cbr%3EFounders%3A%20Onur%20Elgun%2C%20Mustafa%20Bosca%20and%20Muhammed%20Yildirim%3Cbr%3ESector%3A%20Climate%20tech%3Cbr%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%241%20million%20raised%20in%20seed%20funding%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
Boulder shooting victims
• Denny Strong, 20
• Neven Stanisic, 23
• Rikki Olds, 25
• Tralona Bartkowiak, 49
• Suzanne Fountain, 59
• Teri Leiker, 51
• Eric Talley, 51
• Kevin Mahoney, 61
• Lynn Murray, 62
• Jody Waters, 65
Evacuations to France hit by controversy
- Over 500 Gazans have been evacuated to France since November 2023
- Evacuations were paused after a student already in France posted anti-Semitic content and was subsequently expelled to Qatar
- The Foreign Ministry launched a review to determine how authorities failed to detect the posts before her entry
- Artists and researchers fall under a programme called Pause that began in 2017
- It has benefited more than 700 people from 44 countries, including Syria, Turkey, Iran, and Sudan
- Since the start of the Gaza war, it has also included 45 Gazan beneficiaries
- Unlike students, they are allowed to bring their families to France
TECH%20SPECS%3A%20APPLE%20WATCH%20SERIES%208
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDisplay%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2041mm%2C%20352%20x%20430%3B%2045mm%2C%20396%20x%20484%3B%20Retina%20LTPO%20OLED%2C%20up%20to%201000%20nits%2C%20always-on%3B%20Ion-X%20glass%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EProcessor%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Apple%20S8%2C%20W3%20wireless%2C%20U1%20ultra-wideband%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECapacity%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2032GB%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EMemory%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%201GB%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EPlatform%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20watchOS%209%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EHealth%20metrics%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%203rd-gen%20heart%20rate%20sensor%2C%20temperature%20sensing%2C%20ECG%2C%20blood%20oxygen%2C%20workouts%2C%20fall%2Fcrash%20detection%3B%20emergency%20SOS%2C%20international%20emergency%20calling%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EConnectivity%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20GPS%2FGPS%20%2B%20cellular%3B%20Wi-Fi%2C%20LTE%2C%20Bluetooth%205.3%2C%20NFC%20(Apple%20Pay)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDurability%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20IP6X%2C%20water%20resistant%20up%20to%2050m%2C%20dust%20resistant%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EBattery%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20308mAh%20Li-ion%2C%20up%20to%2018h%2C%20wireless%20charging%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECards%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20eSIM%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EFinishes%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Aluminium%20%E2%80%93%20midnight%2C%20Product%20Red%2C%20silver%2C%20starlight%3B%20stainless%20steel%20%E2%80%93%20gold%2C%20graphite%2C%20silver%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EIn%20the%20box%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Watch%20Series%208%2C%20magnetic-to-USB-C%20charging%20cable%2C%20band%2Floop%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Starts%20at%20Dh1%2C599%20(41mm)%20%2F%20Dh1%2C999%20(45mm)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Company%C2%A0profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ETuhoon%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EYear%20started%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EJune%202021%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECo-founders%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFares%20Ghandour%2C%20Dr%20Naif%20Almutawa%2C%20Aymane%20Sennoussi%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ERiyadh%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3Ehealth%20care%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESize%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E15%20employees%2C%20%24250%2C000%20in%20revenue%0D%3Cbr%3EI%3Cstrong%3Envestment%20stage%3A%20s%3C%2Fstrong%3Eeed%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EWamda%20Capital%2C%20Nuwa%20Capital%2C%20angel%20investors%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
Bundesliga fixtures
Saturday, May 16 (kick-offs UAE time)
Borussia Dortmund v Schalke (4.30pm)
RB Leipzig v Freiburg (4.30pm)
Hoffenheim v Hertha Berlin (4.30pm)
Fortuna Dusseldorf v Paderborn (4.30pm)
Augsburg v Wolfsburg (4.30pm)
Eintracht Frankfurt v Borussia Monchengladbach (7.30pm)
Sunday, May 17
Cologne v Mainz (4.30pm),
Union Berlin v Bayern Munich (7pm)
Monday, May 18
Werder Bremen v Bayer Leverkusen (9.30pm)
BeIN Sports currently has the rights to show
- Champions League
- English Premier League
- Spanish Primera Liga
- Italian, French and Scottish leagues
- Wimbledon and other tennis majors
- Formula One
- Rugby Union - Six Nations and European Cups
Founders: Abdulmajeed Alsukhan, Turki Bin Zarah and Abdulmohsen Albabtain.
Based: Riyadh
Offices: UAE, Vietnam and Germany
Founded: September, 2020
Number of employees: 70
Sector: FinTech, online payment solutions
Funding to date: $116m in two funding rounds
Investors: Checkout.com, Impact46, Vision Ventures, Wealth Well, Seedra, Khwarizmi, Hala Ventures, Nama Ventures and family offices
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
The Voice of Hind Rajab
Starring: Saja Kilani, Clara Khoury, Motaz Malhees
Director: Kaouther Ben Hania
Rating: 4/5
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