Biography
Salwa Mikdadi is an author and educator. She is the Director and Principal Investigator of al Mawrid Arab Center for the Study of Art and Professor of Practice in Art History at NYU Abu Dhabi. Her research focuses on modern and contemporary art of the Arab world, Arab art institutions, gender and politics in art and museums and their visitors. Previously, she was the Head of the Arts and Culture Programme at the Emirates Foundation (2009–2012) and Head of Professional Development at Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism (2009– 2013). She taught at Sorbonne-Paris Abu Dhabi in the Art History and Museology programme (2011–2014).
She is a founding member of Association for Modern and Contemporary Art of the Arab World (AMCA). She was the co-founder and Director of Cultural and Visual Arts Resource at California’s International Council for Women in the Arts (ICWA), one of the first non-profit organisations dedicated to the study and exhibition of Arab art (1988–2006). She has curated numerous exhibitions, including the first Palestinian Pavilion for the 53rd Venice Biennial (2009); A Century in Flux: Highlights from the Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah Art Museum (co-curator, 2018); and Forces of Change: Artists of the Arab World, ICWA, California and The National Museum for Women in the Arts, Washington, DC (1994).
Mikdadi is the editor of several catalogues and books, including Elias Zayat: Cities and Legends (SKIRA, 2017); New Vision: Arab Contemporary Art in the 21st Century (co-editor, TransGlobe Publishing, 2011); Palestine c/o Venice (Mind the Gap, 2009); In/Visible: Contemporary Art by Arab American Artists (Arab American National Museum, Michigan, 2005); and Rhythm and Form: Visual Reflections on Arabic Poetry (ICWA, 1997).
She received a BA from the American University of Beirut and an MA in Museum Studies from the John F. Kennedy University, Berkeley, California (2002).
Born in Kuwait in 1948, Mikdadi lives and works in Abu Dhabi.
SAF participation:
March Meeting 2023