Very exciting shows in London ahead of Frieze Week. Here’s my roundup👇 observer.com/list/eight-e...

Complete disgust

I spoke with curator Nada Shabout about the historical ebullience + legacies of the Baghdad Modern Art Group and its trailblazers for Observer. observer.com/2025/08/inte...

I recently came across an article that lucidly explains why #wuxia novels can't attract more attention in the anglophone world. Summary: - Cultural barriers - Linguistic abyss & translational onus - Overabundance of names & proper nouns with cultural nuances. www.thebubble.org.uk/culture/lite...

Beyond the news: A few words on art restitutions #newsletter Once in a while, I’d like to offer a slight look away from hard news, politics, or humanitarian crises. France prepares new bill to facilitate the restitution of some colonial property… melissa.substack.com/p/beyond-the...

Latest review on Afghanistan’s war rugs on show at the British Museum for Observer. Sparse despite rich material. Does it reduce a country to its violence? observer.com/2025/08/exhi...

Brave people everywhere

My latest review of Ali Cherri’s largest UK survey on show at the Baltic. On monuments, death, metamorphosis, and our constant struggle between sky and earth. observer.com/2025/07/exhi...

I reviewed Banu Mushtaq’s International Booker Prize win, Heart Lamp (translated by Deepa Bhasthi). Short stories amplifying the voice and lives of Indian Muslim women and recognition of Kannada language literature. For @thenewarab.bsky.social www.newarab.com/features/hea...

I sat down to speak with Palestinian-Saudi artist Dana Awartani, whose show on Middle Eastern cultural destruction opened at Bristol’s Arnolfini last weekend. I really cherish our candid chat about Gaza, Aleppo, and much more. For @thenewarab.bsky.social www.newarab.com/features/dan...

Beautiful no-screen day out in Leicestershire today. Fern forests, roaming deers, scintillating butterflies.

Predictable sentence in Tunisia’s revived dictatorship www.france24.com/en/africa/20...

My review of Liverpool’s biennial, BEDROCK, is out for Observer. Solid curation carrying an important message: forging deep and diverse connections enrich us. observer.com/2025/06/art-...

In Bristol today to chat with Palestinian-Saudi artist Dana Awartani ahead of the opening of her first European solo show at Arnolfini tomorrow, “Standing by the ruins” — more soon

Fab day in Newcastle to see Ali Cherri’s latest show at the Baltic Centre. Review coming up. Remembrance, loss, defiance. We are from earth and sky — mud and gods.

What are some of things you wish you knew before starting a substack for lit/art criticism?

La biennale de Gaza a organisé sa première exposition à Londres. Par @cosmofa.bsky.social www.lequotidiendelart.com/articles/275... – @quotidiendelart.bsky.social

Gaza is the story. In every sector, people are mobilizing against erasure. For Le Quotidien de l’Art, I wrote about the Gaza Bienniale, a grassroot effort to directly connect with Palestinian artists and their works. My report from London a few days ago. www.lequotidiendelart.com/articles/275...

What a beautiful story www.middleeasteye.net/discover/haj...

In Liverpool —

In England (where I am at the mo), there’s a fun fair in the park for upcoming Eid. It’s joyful. In France, my dad is scared for his safety when he goes to pray. And he has every reason to be given free license to harass and assault Muslims. What’s going on in France isn’t normal.

Book 20 read this year

Currently reading for upcoming book review: Heart Lamp from Banu Mushtaq (trans Deepa Bhasthi) @andotherstories.bsky.social

My latest for wonderful @miznaarabart.bsky.social on Tunisia’s speculative futures and pasts. A dream! mizna.org/mizna-online...

An honour attending Gaza Biennale’s latest in London — a day of solidarity, art activism, and grief. More soon 🖊️

Caught up with Malak Mattar’s show today in London — this large narrative painting on Gaza’s inferno & a gripping leporello

Can’t stop raving about RBO’s new production of the Ring cycle. Watched Die Walküre in cinema last night (streaming live in 22 countries!). Just spectacular.

For @thenewarab.bsky.social I reviewed “The Book of Sana’a” (@commapress.bsky.social), an anthology of ten short stories from Yemeni writers. A lovely read that left me wanting to grasp whether a city in literature can be more than ornamental geography: www.newarab.com/features/boo...

Unboxing my first book with my lovely feline critic! An Opinionated Guide to Folk Art is out now, by great Hoxton Mini Press — a fantastic team to work with. Immensely grateful to see this in the world 🤲📚🎨

Young Aboubacar’s murder last Friday in a mosque is a stain on France after years of Islamophobic rhetoric churned by inept, racist politicians and mainstream media. It’s a terrifying time for Arabs and Muslims in so many countries right now, including my own.

This is the scene in Tawila in Darfur after the RSF’s attack on Zamzam camp. People settling in the open after days-long journeys by foot or on carts with the elderly and injured. IOM says 180,000 people arrived in Tawila in less than a week.

#Tunisia: Political opponents handed jail terms ranging between 13 and 66 years rfi.my/Bb5N.BS

Ben Okri giving a keynote at HKW’s Surreal Continuum festival: “Europe has lost the spirit of surrealism, forgotten its lessons and so remains as four square logical as before… it likes its art too often to make sense… art is not about making sense but renewing a relationship to reality.”

Who knew parting with a desk would bring so many mixed emotions, mostly sadness & gratitude 😢

Book 17 — A descent into the fog of madness

My latest art review looks at Fa Razavi’s debut at NYC’s Palo Gallery and her vibrant use of the sculptural nude to create modern mythologies. “Opera Rose” is such a strong stunning show. observer.com/2025/04/art-...

We need more honest conversations like this one. lithub.com/viet-thanh-n...

Superb Doowon Lee show at ACA galleries inspired by Pakistani art & craft

Book 16 — a delight!

My latest art review looks at Fa Razavi’s debut at NYC’s Palo Gallery and her vibrant use of the sculptural nude to create modern mythologies. “Opera Rose” is such a strong stunning show. observer.com/2025/04/art-...

Happy bday to Leonora Carrington 🎂

Book 13 🎈 Book 14 🎈 Book 15 🎈

Bearing witness vs amplifying dehumanising images

Eid Mubarak! 🌙🤲 May God accept our fast and prayers and bring liberation closer to our oppressed brothers and sisters across the world. Art by Safia Latif (Palestine)

Recent reads, book 10 & 11

Where is your light? 💙 @nyrb-imprints.bsky.social

Out on 24 April! A labour of much love 🌸

Book 8: jumped on the Clarice Lispector train for this sizzling meditation on time and existence.

Book 5 and book 6 — both exposing the politics of seeing

It’s a good time to interrogate popular acquiescence to fascism and dictatorship, how the idea of checks and balances crumbles under force and why some people struggle to call out authoritarianism for what it is (denial syndrome, passive approval)