For Tabari Artspace founder, Maliha Tabari, art is a guiding principle and a constant source of enrichment. A collector and a tremendous creative in her own right, the Palestinian national spent her childhood in motion, moving between the Levant and the Gulf before immersing herself in the American cultural scene during the 1990s. The culmination of these experiences was a longstanding and far-reaching engagement with the arts.
In America, Maliha developed her own artistic practice, primarily focusing on sculpture. As an artist producing in the US, there was an opportunity for her to make sense of her hybrid identities as she negotiated her place and space as a female Arab in an unprecedented social context. She concentrated on the dualities she witnessed in her culture of origin while materializing her philosophy: art should embody fine art quality through a trace of the human touch. This notion continues to reverberate through the artwork she collects and the artists she represents.
Bearing witness to a lack of international understanding and representation of MENA culture, Maliha returned to the UAE in 2002 to carve out a space as one of the first gallerists, determined to stimulate cross-cultural dialogue and dismantle social divisions through her work. This mission gave birth to a trajectory spanning decades that saw her gallery, Tabari Artspace, become an unprecedented space where local and international communities could connect with the artists of the region and where intellects and art appreciators might convene.
Central to Maliha’s engagement with art is the identification and nurturing of emerging talent, which she approaches as a passionate mentor, developing artists and their practice from the point of conceptualization to curation and beyond. A friend to the artists, she spent the formative years of her journey as a gallerist frequenting the studios of Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan, befriending the likes of Adam Henin and discovering the lesser-known talents that became the first generation of Middle Eastern artists celebrated and collected internationally. Maliha has significantly shaped the careers of such masters as Khaled Zaki, Adel El-Siwi, and Hussein Madi, who are now collected by international institutions including the Guggenheim, British Museum, and LACMA.
Maliha remains closely tied to the ever-evolving roster of artists that the gallery represents while keeping her gaze fixed firmly on the emerging generation. Spanning cultures and generations, and varying formatively and conceptually, they remain united by their attention to fine art quality. Offering unwavering mentorship, patronage, and international exposure to the artists she represents, Maliha has succeeded in cultivating a culture and appreciation for Middle Eastern art from a place where there was nothing.
In parallel to her engagement with the gallery, Maliha supports regional artists through her personal collection. Over the years, she has amassed more than 200 modern and contemporary works that tell a story of life in the MENA region from a multitude of perspectives.