Radial Histories, a six-part audio miniseries produced by Sharjah Art Foundation, weaves together oral histories, archival sound and scholarly commentary to narrate untold stories about visual art in Sharjah and the wider UAE from the early 1960s to the early 1990s, just before the inception of the Sharjah Biennial.

Set against the rise of Pan-Arabism and the era of Gamal Abdel Nasser, this episode situates the UAE’s emerging art scene within regional solidarities and political shifts. Abdulaziz Almusallam, Jassim Ali Awadhi, Mohamed Yousif, Abdulraheem Salim, Ali Al Abdan and Fatma Lootah reflect on how a coastal, cosmopolitan society absorbed new media, technologies and pedagogies. Early photographers such as Abdul Kareem ‘Captain’ and Muneera Al Mazrou helped shift image-making from documentation to self-representation, while magazines from Lebanon and Egypt circulated new visual languages. Educational ties with Kuwait and the arrival of Palestinian, Egyptian and Syrian teachers further embedded the Emirates within wider Arab cultural networks. Art historian Nada Shabout contextualises these developments within the political and cultural dynamics in the late twentieth century Arab world. 

Credits

Host: May Alqaydi

Guests: Abdulaziz Almusallam, Abdul Qader Al Rais, Abdulraheem Salim, Ali Al Abdan, Fatma Lootah, Jassim Al Awadhi, Mohamed Yousif and Nada Shabout  

Music and Sound:

Zaki, Fakhriyah, singer. ‘Ḥawwil min hinā [Move from here]’. Dubaiphone, 1950. British Library Sound and Moving Image Archive. 

‘Radio Cairo in English and Arabic: July 10, 2015’. Shortwave Radio Audio Archive. 

Broadcast from United Arab Radio – Dubai, 22 Jun 1981. ‘1981-06-20 to 1981-06-22 Shortwave Radio Broadcasts – BBC – Budapest – Peking – Japan – Dubai- Spanish - Polonia’. Loren and Roger Cox Radio Recordings. Digital Library of Amateur Radio & Communications. Internet Archive.

Horizons Unlimited. Audio excerpt. World Wide Pictures and the Society of British Aerospace Companies, 1960s. Periscope Film LLC archive. 

The Science of Oil. Audio excerpt. Saudi Arabian Oil Production Promo Film Aramco RL10035, 1962. Periscope Film LLC archive. 

Abdel Nasser, Gamal. ‘Speech of President Gamal Abdel Nasser (Union Speech 1)]’. Speech to Parliament, 1 Feb 1958.  PresidentGamalAbdelNaser. Uploaded 2015..https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uY_upWOjO2c.

Kuwait Middle East Travelogue Movie. Audio excerpt. 1960s. Periscope Film LLC archive.

Political commentary on the Palestinians,1971. ‘Syrian Radio & Television (1970's Recording)’. Shortwave Radio Audio Archive. 

‘Tasgeelat [Recordings] Apr 03 2011’. Cairo Public Radio Programmes (from 1961). Internet Archive. 

‘Tasgeelat [Recordings] Apr 17 2011’. Cairo Public Radio Programmes (from 1969). Internet Archive. 

‘Monawat Dramiyah [Drama Variety Segments] Sep 17 2010’. Cairo Public Radio Programmes (from 1961). Internet Archive. 

‘Zekrayat Ramadaney [Ramadan Memories] Aug 25 2010’. Cairo Public Radio Programmes (from 1964). Internet Archive. 

‘Monawat [Variety Segments] Aug 06 2010’. Cairo Public Radio Programmes (from 1962). Internet Archive. 

Herterich, Lee, contributor. ‘Radio Baghdad: September 26, 1990’. Shortwave Radio Audio Archive. 

Bayḍā, Faraj Allāh, creator and performer. ‘Yilbaqlik shak al-almās [It suits you, that sparkle of diamonds]’, 1910. Bayḍā Brothers, audio disc. Harvard Loeb Music Library, Aviary Arabic 78 Collection. 

Sandhu, Rajwant. Field recordings in Sharjah. Sharjah Art Foundation, 2025.

Hujairi, Hasan. Field recordings in Sharjah. Sharjah Art Foundation, 2025.

Von Hornbostel, Erich M. ‘Maqam Sika’ (musical mode translated as ‘third degree’). Music of the Orient (disc 2, track 8). Decca, 1951. Internet Archive.

References:

Al Tashkeel, 1984–1992. Emirates Fine Arts Society, Sharjah. https://altashkeel.ae/media/.

Ghobash, Rafia. An Exceptional Lady from Sharjah: Muneera bint Ahmad bint Salem Al Mazrou [Imraʾah Mubdiʿah min al-Shāriqah: Munīrah bint Aḥmad bint Sālim al-Mazrūʿ]. Women’s Museum, Dubai, 2020.

Gronlund, Melissa. ‘Applied Art? Feryal Matar and Art Education at the Sharjah Women’s Association’.  Afterall (30 Jan 2024). https://www.afterall.org/articles/applied-art-feryal-matar-and-art-education-at-the-sharjah-womens-association/

Gronlund, Melissa. Interview with Kamayani Sharma and Mahshid Rafiei, Zoom, 25 June 2024.

Editorial and Content Support: Kate Sutton, Kathleen Butti, Natalia Ulloa, Rajwant Sandhu and Rosalyn D’Mello

Research Associate: May Rashed

 

Sound Engineer and Designer: Riya Raagini 

Podcast Producer and Writer: Kamayani Sharma 

Executive Producer and Writer: Jyoti Dhar

Special Thanks: Hoor Al Qasimi, Nawar Al Qasimi, Dima Bittard, Hasan Hujairi, Alyazeyah Al Marri, Mahshid Rafiei, Ghaith Khoury, Salwa Mikdadi, Sheikh Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi, Abdullah Al Saadi, Talal Moualla, Nasir Nasrallah, Abdelaziz Mohamed AlMulla, Yalda Bidshahri, Joseph De la Cerna, Unnikrishnan Suresh Babu, Magdi Emad, Ismail Al-Rifai, Ziad Abdullah, Abdullah Hussein, Mohamad Al Saadei, Jiwon Lee, Tima Ouzden, Noora Al Mualla, Ahmad Makia, Heba Hosny and Jawed Ali Mohammed

This episode features interviews recorded in February 2024, June 2024, January 2025, October 2025 and April 2026.

© Sharjah Art Foundation, 2026