Focal Point, the fourth edition of Sharjah Art Foundation (SAF) annual book fair, began today at Arts Square, Bait Obaid Al Shamsi, until December 11.
The fair will feature 120 exhibiting publishers, magazines, artists, editors, authors, and makers from the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia (MEASA).
At the region’s largest art book fair, you will find artist books, academic publications, zines, and other non-traditional and experimental publications from the region and around the world.
The fair feature more than 500 titles from a variety of cultural partners and collaborators, including art book fairs in Singapore and Tehran; independent, critical, and arts-focused publishers from Lebanon, South Africa, Morocco, Pakistan, and Palestine; as well as the latest magazines, zines, art and photography books, prints and other ephemera from the MEASA region.
The event will also feature a wide range of young and emerging UAE creatives, illustrators, zine makers, cartoonists, and product designers alongside established galleries and cultural organisations.
This year also marks the launch of Corniche 3, a SAF community publication project. This brings together artists specialised in comics and illustrations based in the UAE and the broader region.
The fair will also include the release of a number of publications including Ahmed Morsi: A Dialogic Imagination, Creating Dangerously: A Postscript to Sharjah Biennial 14, Beirut Bereft: The Architecture of the Forsaken, and Map of the Derelict and Corniche 3.
Releases will also include The Moment of Tarab and Omissions in the Official Narrative by the 2019 winners of the Sharjah Art Foundation Focal Point Publishing Grant.
Programs for members of the public will extend throughout the fair and there will be community workshops, music events, and other activities organised for children.
