ARTIST BIO

Born in Beirut, Lebanese multidisciplinary artist and Curator Abed Al Kadiri double majored in Arabic Literature and Fine Arts.
His work focuses on the deprivation of freedom in society by analyzing contemporary issues of violence, cultural heritage, migration and belonging.
Al Kadiri’s solo exhibitions include Abu Ghraib (2006); In the Corner (2008); Identity Turbulences (2011); Al Maqama 2014 (2014); Ashes to the Sea (2016); Arcadia (2016), Al Maqama Al Mosuliya (2017); The Story of the Rubber Tree (2017-2018).

Al Kadiri has also participated in several group exhibitions regionally and internationally including Istanbul, Paris, Basel, Cambridge, Budapest, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Qatar, and Beirut.
His work can be found in private and public collections in the Middle East. In 2017 he was awarded the Sursock Museum’s Jury Award at the 32nd Salon d’Automne.

In 2006 Al Kadiri moved to Kuwait and worked as an art critic, before establishing the FA Gallery in 2010. He was appointed as the Director of Contemporary Art Platform (CAP) Kuwait from 2012-2015, a leading non-profit arts institution in the Middle East.
Al Kadiri curated numerous exhibitions and developed an extensive exchange programs with regional and international institutions and museums.
In 2015, Al Kadiri left his position at CAP and is currently residing in Beirut. In 2017, he co-founded Dongola Limited Editions, a leading publishing house that offers unconventional perspectives on artist’s books.

His most prominent exhibitions include:
“Remains of the Last Red Rose”, Galerie Tanit – Beirut, Lebanon, 2020
Collective Exhibition – Towards the Sublime, Galerie Tanit – Beirut, 2019
“The Story of the Rubber Tree”, Sursock Museum, Beirut, Lebanon, 2018
“Arcadia”, Albareh Art Gallery, Adliyat, Bahrain, 2017