A Glance at Khaled Akil's "The Unmentioned"

Lahd Gallery is pleased to bring you our latest news, with all the conflict going on in the Middle East. As Syria finds itself in political turmoil, Syrian art has found its way into the contemporary space of Lahd Gallery, based in Hampstead.

KhaledAkil: The Unmentioned, the current exhibition on display at Lahd Gallery, explores a range of social, political and religious issues facing Syria, amidst the recent events there. When approached by the artist, he asked of the gallery, “Are my works too aggressive for you?” and we replied, “This is exactly what we do!” Lahd Gallery prides itself as being on the forefront when it comes to promoting raw talents, artists with something to say, a message to share.

Khaled’s works are made up of a hybrid of photography and painting that results in layers of ancient religious Arabic scripts and symbols combined with photography. His works can be described as aggressive as the artist chooses to target the components of his society that have the deepest and most dangerous effects which also affect the whole region.

Due to its extensive popularity, this exciting exhibition is currently running until our next show in April. More updates will be posted here soon.

Media Sources:

Syrian artist's Hampstead exhibition explores nation in conflict

http://www.hamhigh.co.uk/news/syrian_artist_s_hampstead_exhibition_explores_nation_in_conflic

t_1_1219860

Artist's work looking at nation in midst of battle

http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/launch.aspx?referral=other&pnum=20&refresh=4Za1p0L309zN&EID=a1aa31a4-78f9-4e0c-9b9b-7d459499f11a&skip=&p=20 

Khalid Akil: The Unmentioned

http://www.culturalismi.com/culturalismi/suggestions/khalid-akil-the-unmentioned.html 

Photography Exhibition 'Khaled Akil: The Unmentioned at London's Lahd Gallery' 

http://islamicartsmagazine.com/blog/view/photography_exhibition_khaled_akil/ 

Our upcoming exhibition!

Lahd Gallery is proud to announce the premiere of Khaled Akil: The Unmentioned, its latest exhibition exploring the social, political, sexual and religious issues facing Syria.

Running for eight weeks from 12^th January 2012, Khaled Akil: The Unmentioned is an exciting collection of the Syrian artist’s unique hybrid of photography and paint techniques. The final product is a digital image made up of layers of ancient religious Arabic scripts and symbols combined with photography depicting Akil’s take on the challenges in Middle Eastern society currently.

Khaled Akil is a self-taught artist who is exhibiting in the UK for the first time. He uses social, political, sexual, and most prominently, religious issues as subject matter for his works. His perspectives are influenced by his passion for politics and human rights underlined by his academic studies.

We support socially responsible fashion

Did you know that Lahd Gallery has teamed up with Fashion ComPassion? Fashion ComPassion is the premium ethical fashion house which supports and empowers marginalised and uderpriviliged women from Asia and the Middle East.

Inspired by the art of calligraphy, a range of limited edition bags and jewellery is currently shown at Lahd Gallery, as part of the 'Arabic Calligraphy: The Art of The Written Word' exhibition, which will be on until December 14!

Tunisian artist Abdallah Akar

Born in Tunisia, Abdallah Akar arrived in France to pursue Science studies at Paris VII University. Very quickly, and almost naturally, he felt drawn to the visual arts. In 1980, he met an Iraqi calligrapher, Ghani Alani who has since been a powerful influence in Akar’s artistic development. In the following years, he exhibited in France as well as in Tunisia. During this time, he shared his time between Calligraphy, and multiple collaborations at the INSTITUT du MONDE ARABE, Paris, as well as numerous seminars in France and around the world and established his Val d’Oise studio – close to Paris.

During the early 2000s, he completed an Installation: 16 textiles richly decorated with calligraphy, a tribute to the Pre-Islamic poetry, followed in 2007 by a publication of Poèmes Suspendus (Muallaq’at) edited in both languages, French and Arabic.

Abdallah Akar is always searching for a renewed rendition of the calligraphic language, exploring mediums such as fabric, canvas, wood and even glass. He shows his work extensively in Europe and is a well known artist on the Middle Eastern contemporary art scene.

Abdallah's works will be displayed at Lahd Gallery until December 14, as part of the exhibition Arabic Calligraphy: The Art of The Written Word.

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.