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Exhibition dates

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Upcoming Gallery Call for Artists (Oxford/Manchester July 2022)

Application closed

Our Agenda

Women in Society: A Middle Eastern Perspective

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This will be an exhibition devoted to the works of Middle Eastern artists. They will present different works that relate to the role of women in the Middle East. The relationship between Europe and the Middle East is a complicated one. Both regions have heavily influenced each other through philosophy, religion, politics, and war. Their histories are intertwined. But historically, this exchange was always precipitated by men. Apart from orientalist fantasies of European painters, women were barely mentioned. Today, this has changed. In the West, there is a large number of political narratives that specifically rely on the image of the middle eastern woman. These stories are often used to argue for a specific political worldview.  Sometimes, Middle Eastern women are portrayed as victims of foreign military intervention. According to such a narrative, Western countries such as the US are accused of having destroyed the supposedly peaceful life that those women have so far led. The threat to Middle Eastern women is thereby construed as purely external. Honor killings and patriarchal discrimination are equally ignored. On the other hand, there is a counter-narrative. Its adherents justify Western military intervention by portraying women as victims of sexist discrimination, religious fundamentalism, and societal backwardness. In order to liberate women from the grip of those terrors, it is supposedly necessary to wage war. Both of these narratives view Middle Eastern women from a perspective that is dependent on the political discourses of Western countries. But to understand the real situation of women in the Middle East, we have to take Middle Eastern perspectives into account. This exhibition is doing precisely that. It will display different works from Middle Eastern artists. It will feature art that illuminates the social position of women from a perspective that is so often absent in contemporary debates.

Step by step application process & FAQs

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  • Step 1: Submit a registration form to teamUMPS@gmail.com (this form will become available on the 8th of May 2022)

    • When is the registration deadline? the registration is due on the 10th of June. However, we encourage all participants to express their interests as earliest as possible, due to the limited size of the gallery, we are limited by the number of paintings we can accommodate.

    • The registration form has two pages, you do not need to fill in the second page if your painting is not ready yet.

  • Step 2: Contract and first payment

    • How much does the registration cost in total? If you are registering from outside Iran, you'll need to pay a total of £150 per painting. Upon signing the contract, £50 is paid, and the rest is paid before sending the painting(s).

    • After submitting your registration form, you will receive a confirmation email along with a contract, and our payment details. Please read the contract carefully and send it back to us once signed and once the initial payment has been made. Please allow 3-7 working days to receive your confirmation email. 

  • Step 3: Before sending your artwork

    • Once you are ready to send your work, please fill in the second page of the registration form and send it back to us along with a high-quality picture of your painting, upon reviewing your work, you will be asked to make the final payment. The reviewing process usually takes less than a day.

    • We are working hard to make our gallery as inclusive as possible, in rare occasions where paintings are not up to our gallery's standard, we may reject your contribution and refund your registration fee.

  • Step 4: Sending your artwork

    • All art pieces from outside the UK need to be sent/mailed over to our office in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The full postal address will be provided to you. The deadline to send your pieces is the end of June. Please allow enough days for long shipments.

    • Does the registration fee cover the transportation of the art pieces? No, you will be responsible for sending your artworks, ensuring they are insured and will safely arrive. We will take it from there!

  • Step 5:  Day of Exhibition

    • All art pieces will be gathered and displayed first for three days at the University of Oxford. They will then be transferred to the University of Manchester for another three-day show. The gallery will be open to the public and free to enter.

    • Upon selling the artworks, 100% of the money will be sent to the artist.

    • All the paintings will also be available to be sold via our website during the exhibition weeks.

  • Step 6: Returning your artwork 

    • Any unsold art pieces will be returned to the sender, however, the shipment cost needs to be paid by the artist.

  • FAQs

    • Acceptable sizes: the paintings need to be on a regular 50*70 cm (2 cm depth i.e. shallow) canvas with no frame. Please contact teamUMPS@gmail.com for more information on sending any painting size other than the above-mentioned size.

Bloom's art project focuses on creating positive vision, hope & unity through The
Visual, Auditory & Performing Arts

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Budding Art Academy was founded with great ambitions and plans in mind. The aim of the academy was to discover artists from countries in which artists are deprived of praise and the possibility of getting known for their talents. Persian-speaking countries were targeted for this purpose inviting any keen and challenge-seeking artist from all walks of life. They were then encouraged to explore their hidden and unknown talents and introduce them further afield. The academy then launched its very first competition and in a very short time, it was able to attract a large number of artists to this pioneering project. Around 300 artists took part. For the duration of five intensive months with some Afghan, Iranian and Tajik volunteers.

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One of the special projects of the academy was to encourage artists with special needs and mental disabilities to take part. This also proved very successful and with the support of their families and the assistance of their teachers, 4 were selected. Then in September 2021 in Tehran / Iran, Budding Art Academy held its début festival and exhibition on visual arts based on the concept of composition and aesthetics. As well as the 4 extraordinary artists, successfully 30 finalists were selected, and out of these 11 were chosen as the winners of the first competition.

Project's People | Collaborators

Who Are We
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Minoo Habibi
 

Management of Administrative and Informatics Affairs

Karim Tanweer
 

Project Director

Peymaneh Asgary

Vice - director and Advisor

Bita Alimehr
 

Director of Public Relations

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Neda Yadegar
 

Afsoon Ararooti
 

Sara Rasouli

Independent Curator

Resources & Development

Public Relations Assistant

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Mehrsa Jafarpour

President of Persian society at the University of Oxford

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