Bahrain is an island, cupped between the Qatar peninsula and the northeastern coast of Saudi Arabia, in the Persian Gulf. Governed by a constitutional monarchy, Bahrain is a combination of a vibrant sun, towers, sand, greens and water. It is here, that in 2008, Kaneka Subberwal, who had built a reputation in the art industry after organising numerous exhibitions in London, Dubai, Doha and India, landed and established an art lounge.
With time, her company, Art Select, and lounge grew into a new form and were named Art Bahrain Across Borders (ArtBAB) in 2014. She is the Art Fair Director for ArtBAB and is also a collector. This project began with an aim of empowering the presence of art in Bahrain. “I used to attend several shows with my mother-in-law. When I learnt about the art community and observed the boom of art sales in 2007, my interest grew deeper,” says Subberwal, who will host an exhibition of the works of 15 Bahraini artists at Bikaner House in Delhi from October 9 to 11.
On her decision to work in Bahrain, she says, “My focus has always been the Middle East. Through ArtBAB, I wish to help talent and skill surface in Bahrain. I wish to empower artists by taking Bahrain to the global art industry and bringing the global art community to Bahrain.”
Cross cultural interactions
Subberwal has already organised two editions of the Bahrain Art Across Borders fair - the first edition was held in 2015 and garnered a total of 48 artists from different parts of the world like the UK, Africa, Canada, Lithuania, Russia, France, Ukraine, Denmark, Ethiopia, India, Italy and the USA, furthermore it generated a net sales of 2.5 crores. The spectrum of artists included artists like Satish Gupta and Binoy Varghese from India. In the second edition, the number of artists grew to 65 and the sales multiplied by one and half times of the previous edition’s reap.
ArtBAB seeks to also bring a large community of artists together in not just Bahrain but also across the globe, and this feat also requires support. “It was in 2015 that this project came under the patronage of Her Royal Highness Princess Sabika Bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa, wife of the king of Bahrain. And this took the project to the national level.” Subberwal adds, “Her Highness is a forward thinking woman and has contributed massively to the growth of women and art in Bahrain. Also, we received support from the organisation Tamkeen, which focuses on the economic development of the private sector in Bahrain. Tamkeen invested in ArtBAB as human resource development.”
To be a part of the ArtBAB fair, artists can apply through their website and undergo a selection process conducted by an International Selection committee which operates from London. On the topic of the art found in Bahrain, Subberwal shares her own opinion, “It’s a wide variety, from installation to performance art, everything blossoms in Bahrain. But in all their art, even if it be an abstract piece of work, there will be an element of their ethnicity, it is a marker of identity and culture.”
Her ardent support for the art community is voiced in her unique definition for the often vaguely thrown about term ‘art community’, “What is the art community? What is an art collector? See, it’s not a profession or a quality – everyone who admires and buys art is a collector, no matter who you are.”
