Abu Dhabi Art 2021 (17 – 21 November 2021) Sabrina Amrani at Abu Dhabi Art 2021

Abu Dhabi Art 2021, held under the patronage of HH Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Member of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council and Chairman of Abu Dhabi Executive Office, was organised by the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi. This year marked the art fair's 13th edition, between 17 – 21 November 2021 at Manarat Al Saadiyat. Abu Dhabi Art saw an impressive roster of gallery participation and newly commissioned works by a diverse line-up of featured artists.

This year, Simon Njami's gallery sector spotlighted selected artists and galleries under a new curatorial framework: Kind of Blue. In this sector Sabrina Amrani Gallery exhibited works by Joël Andrianomearisoa and Nicène Kossentini.

Sabrina Amrani Gallery at Abu Dhabi Art 2021. Courtesy of the artist and Sabrina Amrani

Joël Andrianomearisoa

Joël Andrianomearisoa was born in Antananarivo, Madagascar, in 1977. He lives and works between Antananarivo and Paris. He represented the first-ever Madagascar Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2019. His most recent solo shows in institutions are at the Dallas Contemporary Museum (USA), the Biennial of Sydney 2020 (Australia), the Musée d'Art Clermont-Ferrand. On-going, he composed a year-long exhibition with multiple interventions of the artist at the Kunsthalle Praga (Czech Republic) and a solo exhibition at the Château Aigues-Mortes (France).

Andrianomearisoa has participated in a number of group shows and his work is in prominent public collections such as the Musée Les Abattoirs (France), the Studio Harlem Museum in New York, the National Museum of African Art in Washington DC or Zeitz MOCAA in South Africa, to name a few.

Joël Andrianomearisoa, Autumn Leaves, 2021 Graphite and mine de plomb on linen. 44 × 33.5 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Sabrina Amrani

Joël Andrianomearisoa, L’un part l’autre reste, 2021. Graphite and mine de plomb on linen. 44 × 33.5 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Sabrina Amrani

Joël Andrianomearisoa, Les Vestiges de l’Extase, 2018. Textile collage. 160 x 240 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Sabrina Amrani

Nicène Kossentini

Nicène Kossentini is a Tunisian artist living and working in Tunis, Tunisia and Paris, France Born in Tunis, 1976. She studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Tunis, Marc Bloch University in Strasbourg, and Sorbonne University in Paris. During the first edition of the International Digital Media in France, she was interned at the Studio National des Arts Contemporains Le Fresnoy and at l'École de l'Image Les Gobelins. Currently, she is an assistant professor of experimental cinema at the University of Tunis.

Nicène works have been shown all over the world in art galleries, fairs and institutions such as Art Dubai, Marrakech Art Fair, Institut du Monde Arabe (Paris), Círculo de Bellas Artes (Madrid), Museum of Boulogne Billancourt (France), National Museum of Carthague (Tunisia), Museum of Contemporary art of Algiers (Algeria), Bamako Biennale, Alexandria Biennale, Tunis Biennale and Thessaloniki Biennale. Her work is present in prominent public collections such as The British Museum, Kamel Lazaar Foundation or the Museum of Modern Art in Tunis, Tunisia.

Mindful of her heritage and past, Nicène Kossentini seeks to uncover the lost links and buried truths of her culture and origins. Her work thus addresses concerns of Tunisian society, which has to live with a memory that tends to freeze, flatten and become lost.

Nicène Kossentini, History Lessons 1, 2020. Ink on paper. 51 x 36 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Sabrina Amrani

Nicène Kossentini, Detail of History Lessons 1, 2020. Courtesy of the artist and Sabrina Amrani

Nicène Kossentini, History Lessons 2, 2020. Ink on paper. 51 x 36 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Sabrina Amrani

Nicène Kossentini, Detail of History Lessons 2, 2020. Courtesy of the artist and Sabrina Amrani

Nicène Kossentini, Poem of Al-Khansa, 2020. Ink on paper. 41 x 31 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Sabrina Amrani

Nicène Kossentini, The Errant (Moment 6), 2016. Graphite and watercolor on paper. 50 x 150 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Sabrina Amrani