Enjoy the MEI Art Gallery’s latest exhibition Arab Pop Art: Between East and West at this week’s Art Walk Dupont First Friday Open House from 6:00 – 8:00 PM. The evening program includes an art talk at 6:30 pm featuring participating artist Marwan Chamaa in conversation co-curators Lyne Sneige and Laila Abdul-Hadi Jadallah about his practice blending pop-art aesthetics with Middle Eastern themes. The art talk will be followed by a gallery tour with the curators.
Featuring 14 artists from the Arab world and its diaspora, Arab Pop Art: Between East and West explores the emergence of Arab Pop art as a bold fusion of cultural identity and global visual language that highlights a vibrant, evolving, and cosmopolitan Arab identity. The exhibition has been featured in Hyperallergic as one of the top exhibitions to see in D.C. and Washington City Paper’s 2025 Fall Arts Guide as one of the season’s best visual art exhibits!
Participating artists include: Yusef Alahmad (Saudi Arabia/US), Chant Avedissian (Egypt), Marwan Chamaa (Lebanon/US), Yasmine Nasser Diaz (Yemen/US), Rasha Eleyan (Palestine/UK), Hassan Hajjaj (Morocco), Tony Khawam (Syria/US), Mous Lamrabat (Morocco), Ilyes Messaoudi (Tunisia), Qarm Qart (Egypt/Italy), Rana Salam (Lebanon), Water With Water (Nathan Ross Davis & Sarah Elawad, Qatar), Helen Zughaib (Lebanon/US).
Select artworks are available for sale.
SPEAKERS
Arab Pop Art: Between East and West is on view at The MEI Art Gallery and open to the public Monday to Friday, 10 am-5 pm, through January 23, 2026. Walk-ins are welcome, or you can schedule an appointment online. Admission is free and open to the public.
Image: Marwan Chamaa, Make Dreams Not War (2024). Courtesy of the artist.
Lead sponsorship by the Open Mind Project, additional support provided by the Embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco in Washington, D.C.
A Moveable Feast of MENA Pop Art at the MEI Gallery
Maximal Miniatures: A Contemporary Take on a Centuries-Old Persian Art Form
