Middle East and Africa Art Exhibitions

Autumn 2026

Autumn 2026 is marked by a renewed examination of how modern art histories were formed, contested and carried forward. At Mathaf, Jewad Selim, Shakir Hassan Al Said and the Baghdad Modern Art Group are reassessed through their search for a distinctly Iraqi modernism, while A Protea Is Not a Flower at Zeitz MOCAA brings South African modernism into dialogue with later generations. At Pera Museum, Frank Bowling is presented alongside Francis Bacon and Victor Willing, placing a Black British artist within a wider history of postwar painting and introducing his work to a new context in Istanbul. Alongside these historical perspectives, exhibitions such as Spices and Wonders: Journeys Across the Indian Ocean in Abu Dhabi and Vantage Point 13 in Sharjah explore movement, exchange, memory and representation through different forms of contemporary practice.

The geography of the season is equally significant. Activity extends from Abu Dhabi, Doha and Sharjah to Cape Town, Marrakech and Istanbul, with museums, foundations and independent cultural organisations each contributing different perspectives. From Iraqi and South African modernism to contemporary photography and exhibitions connecting art with histories of movement and cultural exchange, the season reveals a broader interest in revisiting who shaped modern art, whose histories have been overlooked, and how those histories continue to inform contemporary practice.