Wednesday 9 November 2011

Welcome to Lahd Gallery!




The origin of Lahd Gallery stems from the word Lahd, which in Arabic means “The blink of the eye”. The eye in the logo symbolises a glimpse into a new dimension. In Pseudoscience, to see an eye that is open means one is awakening to consciousness. In Egyptian culture, the eye of Horus is an ancient Egyptian symbol of protection and royal power . In North Africa, the protection from the evil eye is  used as a charm and is  manifested in the aesthetics of henna art. Furthermore, the eye symbol is also used in the Chinese philosophy of the Yin and Yang which denotes opposite energies interacting and are the seeds of all things.

Lahd Gallery was founded in 2005 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Representing emerging and established artists, we bring together the leading contemporary art works from the Middle East.

Originally set up as a focal point for women artists from the Gulf, our first exhibition 'An eye on Riyadh' initially introduced women artists from Riyadh itself and subsequently women artists from different towns and regions of Saudi Arabia. Our next feature exhibition ‘Teif from Saudi Arabia’ brought Gulf women artists to all the other countries in the Gulf. Looking further afield with the ‘Colours of the Gulf’ touring exhibition, Lahd Gallery’s artists travelled to North Africa, Seoul and Tehran in 2007. The gallery soon became a well known exhibition space on the contemporary art scene in the Middle East and has exhibited extensively throughout the Gulf, Asian and North African countries. 


In 2010 the gallery moved to its present location in London and has over the last five years become the foremost gallery promoting exclusively contemporary Middle Eastern art.


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