ARTPATRON

the young collectors
art patrons of the future

Mohammad Naciri works with the United Nations Development Programme as their Deputy Resident Representative in Kuwait. Since a UNICEF internship in 1995, Naciri has worked in Egypt, Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Cambodia and Thailand, dealing with issues from human trafficking to ethnic cleansing. His eclectic art collection ranges from Polynesian and African tribal art to Pharaonic and International Modern and Contemporary, which reflects his many travels..

A graduate of Oxford’s School of Social and Cultural Anthropology and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, Naciri believes strongly in the power of art. “I came to realise early on that art is my pathway to consolation and to my soul’s inner peace. In that manner, art for me is not a way of life, but rather a means and a tool to enable me to live through the bedlam and confusion of life,” he says. “It offers me the promise that some sort of order can be created out of our chaotic world. It reconciles opposing forces, producing harmony out of conflict, offering me an escape from bewilderment.”

Naciri’s favourite painting is George Bahgory’s ‘Um Kalthoum’, which encapsulates Egypt, serving as a visual representation of “the hopes, dreams, emotional belonging and longing to a homeland. Purchasing it was my resolution to carry home with me wherever I go.”

Are you drawn to a particular style or medium? Naciri: Not at all. When buying art I ask myself, ‘Do I love it? Would I want to look at it first thing in the morning and the last thing at night?’ I like art that is dramatic and theatrical; I have a strong taste with nerve, power and energy. I love beauty, I love excitement, and I think the art I live with makes these kinds of statements.......

TEXT BY LULU AL-SABAH
PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVID LEVENSON, BRUNOPELLERIN, STEPHANIE MCGEHEE AND PAUL MACLEOD

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