Reconsidering 'Islamic Art' and the Museum

What do we talk about when we talk about Islamic Art?
What are the recurring associations we make? How do we read between the lines?

As part of our Fall 2023 Residency programme, we had invited you to join us with art historian and our Fall 2023 resident Marika Sardar in a tour & discussion at the Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilization that was on Saturday, 11 November 2023.

Over the past 6 weeks of her research residency, Marika had been investigating - through conversations, observations, and workshops - the ways in which Islamic Art is represented in the Museum, and also how various actors in the ecosystem such as curators, scholars, exhibition designers, and artists, shape its overarching narrative within the context of the UAE.

We began the tour of the galleries followed by an open discussion in response to the gallery names, object labels, maps, and text panels to think about how the installation frames a presentation of Islamic art, and if the curatorial decisions spoke to locally-based audiences.

About the Resident

Marika Sardar is a consultant and independent scholar who has held curatorial positions at the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto, the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, The San Diego Museum of Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. She has published on the architecture, paintings and textiles of India, and has created a number of exhibitions and permanent gallery installations relating to her specialties of South Asian and Islamic art. She holds a PhD from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University.