Meet Khalil Rabah

Author Art Dubai

Across varied media, the work of Khalil Rabah is laced with humour and wit as the Ramallah-based artist continues to offer his version of an alternative history through the invention of the fictional Palestinian Museum of Natural History and Humankind. Galleries that form this imagined institution have been exhibited around the world, in the biennials of Venice, Sharjah, Marrakech and Istanbul as well as in venues in Beirut, New York and London, among others. Fiction aside, Rabah, who was born in Jerusalem in 1961, employs a sense of forward thinking to his work that is rooted in issues of identity, displacement and politics – one such example is his launch of the Riwaq Biennale, an institution founded to safeguard and promote Palestine’s cultural heritage across various cities and towns and for the duration of a year. Rabah is represented by Sfeir Semler Gallery in Beirut/Hamburg and has held solo exhibitions at e-Flux, New York (2013), Beirut Art Center (2012), Kunsthaus Hamburg (2015) and Casa Arabe in Madrid (2016), among others.

Art Dubai Portraits is a film series that provides a short perspective into the lives and workspaces of artists that are connected to the fair through its programming or participating galleries.