Tabari Artspace was founded in 2003, at a moment when artists from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region were still largely absent or misrepresented within international discourse. 

We began by championing key figures in the development of regional modernism, foregrounding artists whose practices had been critically significant yet insufficiently historicised. 

 

The early days established an approach that continues to inform the gallery’s programme today, centred on identifying practices of lasting importance and developing the curatorial, scholarly and institutional frameworks required to support their visibility over time.

As political and social conditions across the region evolved through the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, artistic production similarly altered in form and focus. Tabari Artspace has consistently worked with artists whose practices engage directly with the conditions of contemporary life, including human movement, contested histories, changing landscapes and cultural inheritance. The programme supports work that is urgent, technically accomplished, conceptually rigorous and rooted in lived experience.

We are committed to advancing the practices of women artists and those whose voices have been historically marginalised. These are the artists challenging the status quo, contributing new perspectives to contemporary art discourse and extending how histories, identities and geographies are understood. Many of the artists we work with operate across multiple geographies, their practices shaped by transnational experience and mobility. The gallery’s work is informed by an understanding of art as interconnected, formed through circulation, exchange and the development of relationships across regions that have often remained insufficiently examined.

This commitment is extended through our international residency programme, which provides artists with time, resources and access to a global network of curators, institutions and peers. The programme is structured to support sustainable development, enabling work and ideas to evolve beyond short-term cycles or immediate pressures.

 

We see Tabari Artspace as a connective platform, a bridge linking artists to institutions, regional practices to international conversations, and under-recognised histories to future art historical frameworks.

The triangle within our visual identity echoes this role, signalling connection between modernist legacies and contemporary practice, established trajectories and emerging voices. Our focus is on making space for the visions of artists who understand their moment and create with conviction.