SARA EL-JAZARA
Sara El-Jazara is an art historian, researcher, and archivist whose practice explores the intersections of art, memory, and resistance in the Arab world. Her work engages with the politics of the archive, tracing fragmented histories and artistic practices as acts of preservation and collective reclamation.
A graduate of Marist College in Florence, Italy, El-Jazara’s professional experience spans research, archiving, editing, curation, gallery management, and art consultancy.
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DISORIENTING THE ORIENTALIST: INVESTIGATING THE ARCHIVES OF ARAB ART
DISORIENTING THE ORIENTALIST: INVESTIGATING THE ARCHIVES OF ARAB ART
published work
Postmortem Issue #01
Contributions: Sara El-Jazara, Nadine Makarem, Marina Mardas, François Peyroux, Manon Schaefle
Artists: Amer Al Dakar, Soukaina Melhaoui, Louise Mervelet
Direction: Marina Mardas
Editors: Tariq Emam, Françios Peyroux
Translation: Victoire Kalamarides
Graphic Design: Blanc-k.studio
Publisher: Postmortem Issue
Design: Kimberley Blanc
I met Marina Mardas, the founder of PostMortem, in Athens in 2022 as part of Exist Festival. I was participating with an installation, “Untitled” (2022), presenting my personal research on Arab art: an ever-growing database of artworks and research papers, books, articles on Arab art. I was stationed somewhat across from her installation, “I wear my flesh like a necklace” (2022).
We kept in touch and Marina reached out asking me to write for PostMortem’s first issue, on the same themes I addressed in my installation: trying to piece together Arab art history, however, narrating towards a more European audience.
The research paper, titled "Disorienting the Orientalist," investigates the fragmented nature of the Arab art archive and the systemic challenges in documenting its history. It begins by deconstructing Orientalism, defined as a Western structure of desire and domination, examining how colonial artists like Jean-Léon Gérôme utilized "documentary realism" to create dehumanizing, fabricated scenes that served as justifications for colonial authority. In response to this "othering" and the colonial relegation of local art to mere "crafts," the paper highlights the emergence of Arab Modernism asserted cultural autonomy by rejecting Western techniques. It showcases how artists such as Saloua Raouda Choucair referenced the rich resevior of references in Islamic geometry and Arabic poetry, and how the Casablanca Art School Group favored local materials and indigenous traditions to reclaim their own visual history.
The second half of the study focuses on contemporary practices among the "War Generation" of artists, whose work is inextricably tied to the trauma of conflict and the investigation of truth. Through an analysis of Walid Raad’s fictionalized archives, Hanaa Malallah’s "Ruins Technique," and Hani Zurob’s symbolic use of "zeft" (tar), the paper illustrates how contemporary Arab art articulates a "fragile present" while challenging the authority of Western-style historiography. The research concludes by advocating for a fundamental shift in how Arab art is institutionalized. Rather than mimicking Western models, the author calls for the creation of museums that are sensitive to the "invisibility" caused by decades of disaster and war, ensuring that the diverse, plural identities of Arab art are granted the visibility they deserve.
To read, please e-mail me @ sarajazara@gmail.com with a short introduction of yourself.