Glimpses of the Middle East - 1.08.2011

The Enduring Middle East: an exhibition of oil paintings by Joseph Maxwell Stuart following in the footsteps of Orientalist painter David Roberts

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Benghazi Speaks: revolutionary images from the Libyan uprising, captured by photojournalist Teun Voeten

The Enduring Middle East

Following in the footsteps of Orientalist painter David Roberts, Joseph Maxwell Stuart exhibits a selection of oil paintings from a Roberts-inspired journey across Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon & Syria.

Joseph Maxwell Stuart has completed a B.A Honours Degree in Drawing and Painting at Edinburgh Art College. He now lives and paints in the Borders at his studio situated next to the Dawyck Arboretum near Peebles. His preferred mediums are oils and watercolour, painting landscapes mostly ‘in the field’. He particularly delights in the challenge of working directly from nature, whenever possible.

“The Enduring Middle East” is a forthcoming exhibition, to be held in full in 2012. This exhibition will include some 80 paintings of Egypt, Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon & Syria, accompanied by a new book showing links with an earlier voyage of discovery by the renowned 19th-century Orientalist, David Roberts.

Benghazi Speaks

Revolutionary Images from the Libyan uprising, captured by photojournalist Dutch Teun Voeten. In April 2011, Mark Muller Stuart QC went to Benghazi, Libya, with human rights lawyer Jason McCue, just days after the No Fly Zone was announced. While negotiating a number of agreements with the Repel Leadership, Mark and Jason met numerous artist and cultural leaders from Benghazi, as well as Dutch photojournalist Teun Voeten. Together, they brought back an exhibition of revolutionary images from Benghazi, displayed at Traquair, and in full at the Filmhouse, Edinburgh (14 August – 04 September)

These revolutionary images, which appeared in their hundreds, illustrate how the Arab Spring of 2011 deployed graffiti in its most powerful and political form, used as a mouthpiece of protest by young men and women willing to risk their lives for an ideal – democracy and freedom.

Teun Voeten has covered conflict in Yugoslavia, Haiti, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Afghanistan. He has been published in Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, NY Times Magazine, National Geographic Magazine and Granta.