Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi, the art collector supporting gender equality
There is no more passionate advocate for art in the Arab world then Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi. The Emirati curator, professor and columnist is on a mission to share inspiring work from diverse artists and promote the work of women from the region.
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00:00 Emirati art collector, educator and columnist Sultan Al-Hasmi believes in the power of art
00:10 to bring people together.
00:13 Since founding the Bajil Art Foundation, one of the largest collections in the Arab world,
00:20 Sultan has built connections with some of the world's leading galleries, museums and
00:25 universities.
00:26 As-salamu alaykum, my name is Sultan Saud Al-Hasmi, I'm an Emirati art collector, columnist and
00:33 educator.
00:34 He's promoting new artists and pioneering fresh perspectives on Arab art, a mission
00:42 that's uniting art lovers across the Gulf region and beyond.
00:49 Sultan, we're here at the Sharjah Art Museum, home of your foundation.
00:57 Can you tell us a bit about what you're doing here and explain your vision for Arab art?
01:03 The foundation, which I established in 2010, is concerned with promoting art from the Arab
01:10 League states, so 22 countries in the Arab world.
01:15 We look at art from the late 19th century to the 21st century, with a focus on the mid-20th
01:21 century.
01:23 My vision for art from my part of the world is for it to be recognized and appreciated
01:29 by people around the world, but more importantly for people from this region, for them to understand
01:34 the value of their artists, the creativity, history, and for them to really learn about
01:41 their own culture through art.
01:44 We need young Arabs to recognize and to be proud of the artistic creativity of their
01:52 people.
01:53 And we've talked off camera, and I know one of the things you're really proud of is the
01:58 balance between male and female artists in your collection.
02:03 Can you explain why that's so important to you?
02:06 My focus since 2019 has been on women artists or artwork created by women artists in the
02:12 Arab world.
02:14 It was a personal challenge I took upon myself, where I was told repeatedly that men were
02:23 in some cases more prominent, someone used the word "better," which was very problematic,
02:29 and of course they had many more opportunities than women did.
02:34 And so when I suggested the idea that I would try to look at balancing the art exhibitions
02:41 in terms of gender, I got some blowback.
02:45 What we realized is that women did not get equal opportunities, but what they did was
02:50 that they started working with different mediums.
02:53 They started experimenting with henna that men almost never touched.
02:58 They did works on glass, they did works using sand, they did works using ceramic, tapestry,
03:04 silk.
03:05 And so I feel like giving women this slight focus allows us to see the diversity of art
03:13 within the Arab world.
03:15 And I'm very pleased with the result, and it's been one of the most fun adventures I've
03:19 had over the past few years.
03:21 Now, you've built collections with famous institutions all over the world.
03:26 New York, Paris, Christie's famously.
03:30 What's driving that demand for Arab art?
03:33 We have lent to over 140 institutions around the world, and I think that there's been a
03:39 great deal of interest in art from the region, partly because the value of this art has been
03:46 going up.
03:47 Artists that we acquired about 10, 15 years ago for a few thousand dollars are today selling
03:53 for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
03:55 We had a major collaboration with Christie's in the summer of 2023.
03:59 A lot of people were talking about the importance of showcasing one of the famous artists from
04:05 the region as the cover image of the exhibition so that we attract visitors.
04:11 But I insisted that we use the work of a lesser-known female artist, a Lebanese artist called Samia
04:21 Oseiran Jumbulat.
04:23 And at the beginning of the exhibition, there was some skepticism about whether it was the
04:28 right choice, but by the end of the exhibition, her art has become so recognized that, according
04:34 to the family, they've been getting phone calls on a daily basis asking for acquisition
04:41 opportunities.
04:42 So it pays to focus on lesser-known and women artists from the region.
04:56 So, Sultan, as we can see from your amazing home, you're clearly a man immersed in art.
05:00 It's your profession, but it's also your passion, isn't it?
05:04 When did this love affair begin?
05:05 Is there an artistic gene in the family?
05:08 My interest in modern art started as a high school student, and I then moved to Paris
05:13 when I was 16 years old.
05:15 That was in the early '90s.
05:17 And of course, I was immersed in modern European art and contemporary European art, visiting
05:23 museums like the Musée d'Orsay, as well as the Louvre, of course.
05:28 Coming back from Paris in the late 1990s, I spent a lot of time with my mom and my late
05:35 father, who was ill those days.
05:38 In many outings, we would go to art galleries.
05:41 Unfortunately, my father passed away in 2005.
05:45 And many years later, as I was going through his albums, putting things together, I came
05:51 across an album, which I thought was family photographs, but actually was newspaper clippings
05:58 of modern and contemporary artworks that he would come across.
06:02 And some of the artists that are in that album are artists that I ended up collecting for
06:08 the collection.
06:09 And I wish that I could have an opportunity to ask my father, "What drew you to this artwork,
06:15 and why did you keep these clippings?"
06:18 You're focused on the future now, so much more that can be done.
06:22 What do your priorities and goals for the next year look like?
06:26 My primary focus in the next year and a half or so is to finally build a museum that can
06:33 house this collection, a collection that in 2010 was comprised of 50 works or so, is today
06:42 in excess of 1,800.
06:45 Building this museum is expensive, but also logistically very challenging and complicated.
06:51 And I've been given a land by the government in Sharjah, and I'm hoping to finally put
06:58 together the funds and also finally the architectural design and kick this project off in the next
07:05 year or so.
07:06 It'll take a couple of years to build, I think.
07:07 I realize that my goal and focus in life should be a cultural goal and a cultural objective.
07:15 My energies should be conserved for the one place where I can make a difference, which
07:21 is in the artistic sphere.
07:23 And I've decided to focus almost fully on that.
07:26 And by the way, a lot of objectives that are also political and societal can be achieved
07:35 through the cultural sphere.
07:36 So once you educate people about their culture, it gives them an opportunity to be proud of
07:42 themselves.
07:43 It gives them an opportunity to dream of better things in the future.
07:47 So that definitely ties in together in the end.
07:50 A lot of effort and a noble goal.
07:52 Sultan, thanks so much for joining us on the Dialogue.
07:55 Thank you so much, Guy.
07:56 Thank you.
07:56 [MUSIC PLAYING]