Women Solidarity: Rethinking Mid-Twentieth Century Arab Art

Her research traces the movements and histories of Arab artists by rethinking feminist approaches to art modernities and entanglements. It focuses on several artists, including Huguette Caland, Safia Farhat, Salwa Raouda Choucair, Inji Efflatoun, and Tamam Al Akhal. The dissertation explores artistic productions, daily activities, and women-led organizations that have shaped historical discourse. Within this context, solidarity refers to the connections between artists who lived through colonial and independence periods, engaging with nationalist projects, transcultural exchanges, and shared experiences of suffering and injustice.

Ramadan delves into the role of solidarity in modern society and its relationship to contemporary politics, emphasizing how feminist rhetoric from the 1950s continues to influence the present. This rhetoric, originating in the Middle East and North Africa, serves as an artistic agency that challenges dominant nationalist and colonial narratives. Her research also examines the dynamics of producing and circulating artistic ideas through various mediums, such as manifestos, philosophies, exhibitions, and festivals, spanning abstract to figurative creations. By revisiting these moments, the study seeks to unravel the dynamics of how artistic means have contributed to the development of Arab political and feminist discourse in the arts.
Lina Ramadan (b.1990 Doha) is a Palestinian-Lebanese writer and curator, specialized in modern and contemporary art. Her research centers on post-colonial MENA histories, women artists, and solidarities. Currently, she’s exploring independent and collaborative projects around the politics of seeing and feeling. She holds a BA in English Literature from Qatar University and an MA in Museum Studies from UCL. From 2016 to 2022, Ramadan served as an Assistant Curator at Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha. Her recent curatorial projects include Ibi Ibrahim: Like Every Leaving Wasn’t A Country (June 2024); Taysir Batniji: No Condition is Permanent (2022-23); Kader Attia: On Silence (2021), Raqs Media Collective: Still More World (2019), among others. She’s the book editor of Madness of the Anthropocene: Thinking with an Image, which is part of a two-year collaborative effort with artists and researchers. Ramadan has contributed to various publications, including The Palaver Tree in Farid Belkahia: For A New Modernity (Ed. Gauthier, m. Centre Pompidou & Mathaf, 2021); Moments of Return in Avant-Garde and Liberation (forthcoming, Ed. Kravgna, C., Mumok Publications); Foreword for Yemen Art Now (forthcoming, Ed. Vartanian Collier, L & Ibrahim, I. Romooz Foundation). She is the recipient of the 421 Curatorial Development Program for 2023-24, and The Darat al Funun Dissertation Fellowship for Modern and Contemporary Arab Art 2024-25.