View From the Inside is an expansive presentation of contemporary Arab photography, video and mixed media from the Middle East and North Africa. The book shows the works of fifty leading Arab artists from fourteen countries. The works reflect the emergence of photographic, video and digital art as important forms of creative visual expression in the Arab world over the past twenty ye ars. The artworks address a broad range of issues that the artists themselves have defined as important to the modern Arab experience. Four texts cover the early appearance of photography in the Middle East and North Africa in the mid - nineteenth century th rough photographys evolution as an integral part of the contemporary Arab art world. The author of the lead essay on contemporary photographic art is the pioneering curator and expert on classical Islamic art and contemporary Arab art, Karin Adrian von Ro ques . Ms. Von Roques has worked in the Middle East and North Africa for more than twenty years, bringing important contemporary Arab art to museum audiences in Europe, Asia and the United States. Essays on the history of Arab photographic expression are be ing written by Samer Mohdad , a well - known Lebanese photographer, writer and co - founder of the Foundation de lImage Arabe in Beirut, and Dr Claude W. Sui , chief curator of the International Forum of Photography at the Reiss - Engelhorn Museum in Mannheim, Germany, and curator of exhibitions on nineteenth century photography in Arabia and the Holy Lands, Mecca and Medina to Jerusalem. Mona Khazindar , Director General of the Institute du Monde Arabe in Paris will write an essay on the history of modern Arab photography and its relationship to contemporary art. Wendy Watriss , Senior Curator and Artistic Director for FotoFest International will write the introductory essay for the book.
