The Western Gaze: Who Gets to Define MENA Art?

The act of defining MENA art has been a topic many of us have started to discuss and deconstruct in recent years. The question of the Western gaze, Orientalism & local agency have been at the forefront of this debate.

Objectively and theoretically speaking, any person well versed in MENA art history might be recognized as well-equipped to define MENA art. However realistically, biases and histories can often skew definitions, and a Western gaze can be critiqued for imposing its own values, aesthetics, and political assumptions on non-Western cultures. So who gets to define MENA art?

Biases are hard to avoid but NASO’s point of view is that which leans toward local narratives, entrenched and experienced in the cultural and social realities of the region. Through lived experience and reflexivity, one can become well-equipped as the curator of MENA art. This is not to discredit the occurrences in which a Western gaze does make a culturally-aware statement on MENA art. And then again, this debate is multifaceted and can hardly be summed up with generalizations. Nevertheless, the value of local experience cannot be discredited.

Thinking about this question, who do you think gets to define MENA art?