For those of you that don’t know, I’ve been on the road for the past month, holidaying in Beirut and running workshops at Darat Al Funun in Amman. And, while my adventures have been a huge amount of fun, it’s been a little difficult to keep up to date with writing exhibition reviews. In the meanwhile however, I have had a number of pieces published in other publications, highlights of which you can read here!

For Hyperallergic, I spoke to Hayv Kahraman about her new body of work on show at Jack Shainman in New York. We spoke about how her new paintings – of women in contorted positions – compel her audience to acknowledge the potential pleasure of viewing pain.

For My.Kali I interviewed Raphael Khouri about her play She He Me. We talked about the importance of addressing sexuality and issues of LGBT identity in the Arab world, and theatre’s potential role in contributing to the understanding of the issue. The piece is also readable in Arabic.

Meanwhile, the day before I left on my mega-trip, I sat down with curator and publisher Rose Issa for Hyperallergic to speak about her new exhibition at the Middle East Institute Gallery in Washington, as well as her career, the shifting infrastructure for artists in the MENA region, and the need to archive. Accompanied by this stunning portrait from Sueraya Shaheen.

And, finally, for Honey Pump I wrote about the queer utopian work of Vincent CY Chen, who explores the tension between shame and desire in the exotic. The gallery will be showing his work at Satellite Art Show between 3 and 6 October.