Resonant Histories (Hardcover)

Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi is Founder, Barjeel Art Foundation. Puja Vaish is Director, Jehangir Nicholson Art Foundation. Suheyla Takesh is Director, Barjeel Art Foundation. Nadine Nour el Din is a writer, art historian, and cultural practitioner. Patrick Kane is an art historian and educator. Vivek Gupta is the British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at University College London & Research Affiliate, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. Neha Vora is Professor of Anthropology at the Department of International Studies, American University of Sharjah. Amal Allana, a theatre director, is Director of Art Heritage and Lifetime Trustee, Alkazi Foundation for the Arts. Iaroslav Volovod is Curator at the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi. Rasha Alduwaisan is an oral historian and writer. Deepak Unnikrishnan is Associate Arts Professor of Literature and Creative Writing at NYU Abu Dhabi. Bhoomika Ghaghada is a writer and facilitator.

• Foreword
Cyrus J. Guzder
• Preface
Puja Vaish, Suheyla Takesh, Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi
• Exhibition Views
• A Young Boy’s Journey from Sharjah to Bombay
Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi
• Between Cairo and Delhi:
Egyptian Women Artists and Afro-Asian Solidarities
Nadine Nour el Din
• To Grasp One’s Entire Heritage:
Nasreen Mohamedi: Abstraction Across Continents
Puja Vaish
• Ali Hassan: An Egyptian Artist’s Tribute to Mahatma Gandhi
Patrick Kane
• Makers of Cities
Mohammed Kazem’s Dubai and Sudhir Patwardhan’s Mumbai
Vivek Gupta
• Inside to Outside: A Conversation with Emirati Artist Dr Mohamed Yousif
Neha Vora
• Munira Alkazi: Meditations on the Female Self
Amal Allana
• The Right to Not Mind My Own Business
Curator Iaroslav Volovod in Conversation with Artist Vikram Divecha
• Confronting the Void
Curator Suheyla Takesh in Conversation with Artist Jafar Islah
• From the Arab World to India: Tracing Trade, Culture and the Movement of People Over Time
Rasha Alduwaisan
• Kisumu: Balan K Menon, as told to Karuna Nandan
• Simmering (Un)Pleasantries That Bind Us (1962 & 2024)
Bhoomika Ghaghada
• Artworks

ISBN	9789394501928
Pages	256
Number of illustrations	187
Size	9.65 x 10.24″ (245 x 260 mm), (HC-Roundback)
Date of Publishing	March 2026
Language(s)	English
Co-publisher(s)	Published in association with Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah, Jehangir Nicholson Art Foundation and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, Mumbai.
Rights Available	World Rights

“I am partisan to the task of rethinking Third World solidarities (Indo–Arab, Afro–Asian, the Non-Aligned Movement) beginning in the 1950s, active until the late 1960s, and, with some persistence, lasting till today as South–South solidarity. Modernity and internationalism in the post-colonial world, politically redefined within the contemporary, still offer an exemplary paradigm in a world overrun by triumphant capitalism and devastating wars. Every gesture that sidesteps this historical overdetermination is a reminder: that there was, and is, a modernity at stake within the South that is empathetic to democratic and progressive cultures.
And that contemporary aesthetics will be enriched if we engage with diverse art-historical discourses. I write this in the context of the generous project, Resonant Histories: India and the Arab World.”
- Geeta Kapur
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“Refreshingly and remarkably, Resonant Histories decentres the expected comparative model of art history to present an open dialogue between the Arab world and India, exploring the seemingly obvious but less investigated connections despite the geographic proximity, historical contexts, and relations. Significantly, conversations between the two speak of overlaps and parallels in their negotiations of modernism that are as interconnected as they are rooted in their localness. Resonant Histories effectively forces us to change perceptions, expectations, and conversations through considering new alliances and affinities beyond Europe.”
- Nada Shabout