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.
CV
index
SELECTED WORK
DOCUMENTING PRIVATE COLLECTIONS
project
on-going
This project aims to document and digitally archive private art collections. Using Amman, Jordan as a point of departure.
The aim is to “liberate” these artworks and make them accessible to scholars, curators, and the public. By photographing artworks, recording metadata, and interviewing collectors, it seeks to preserve and reveal art currently hidden in private hands.
The resulting open-access digital archive will help fill a major gap in Arab art history, support scholarship, and highlight how private collecting practices shape cultural heritage and artistic narratives in the region.
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DISORIENTING THE ORIENTALIST: INVESTIGATING THE ARCHIVES OF ARAB ART
published work
2022-2024
This research paper examines how Arab art has been represented, misrepresented, and reclaimed from colonial narratives. The editor asked I address a foreign (European) audience, thus the paper starts through the Western Orientalist lens and their depictions of Arabs as exotic/evil. It investigates their own modernist and contemporary practices. Ultimately, the essay argues for new, self-defined ways of archiving and exhibiting Arab art... ones that reject Western institutional models and foreground Arab experiences, histories, and artistic agency.
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REVOLUTIONARY PALESTINIAN ART
talk
2024
I was invited by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at King’s Academy to give a talk on Palestinian art. This talk welcomed students, faculty, and staff. I discussed Palestinian art, with a particular focus on revolutionary aspects of Palestinian art practices from pre-1948 until today.
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UNTITLED
exhibition
2022
Working closely with the late Odai El-Masri, one of the founder’s of Exist Festival, I was commissioned to create an installation showcasing my research on Arab art history. Inspired by a detectives’ forensic table, the
artworks and research papers were in constant dialogue, trying to narrate and piece together our fragmented history. Alongside my work, I curated Sarah Risheq’s film “If the Archive Could Speak.”
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LETTERS TO HER
exhibition
2023
After many conversations with the artist Tala Sadeeq and her body of work revolving around motherhood, the inner child and home, I
focused on the concept of the womb/رحم and presented my artistic research which navigated the complexities of exploring one’s inner child, the healing processes that come with attaining this understanding, and the fears associated with a mother’s presence and/or absence.
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SUSTAINABILITY IN ARAB ART PRACTICES
talk
2022
I was invited by Remote Closeness to give a talk on “sustainable” art practices in the Arab world. At the heart of the talk, I argued that the notions of “sustainability” are a result of capitalism and a by-product of the inherently unsustainable Western model of art-making. Whereas, historically, Arab art practices have been inherently “sustainable” as they act deeply in connection with their surrounding environment.
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I KNOW THE EMPTINESS OF THIS HOUSE
publication
2024
This publication accompanied Ali Kaaf’s solo exhibition at Darat al Funun, “I Know the Emptiness of this House” (2023). In conversation with Rana Beiruti, Ali Kaaf discusses his artworks commissioned for his solo exhibition and the ways his artistic practice has evolved.
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PUBLIC PROGRAM - DESERT X ALULA’24
consultancy-project
2024
Working with a team, I coordinated and executed over 18 events as part of Desert X AlUla’s public program: workshops, talks, and musical acts. I was the primary liaison and managed communications between over 20 artists, more than 10 facilitators, and the programming team to streamline planning and delivery.
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