Italo-palestinian, former assistant of Richard Avedon and teacher at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London, after a successful career as a fashion photographer recognized by the most prestigious magazines of the world, Mustafa Sabbagh focuses his research towards contemporary art through the mediums of photography and video-art, by a kind of aesthetic counter-canon in which punctum is the skin as diary of individual’s uniqueness.
Harmony of imperfection, psychological inquiry and anthropological research through the construction of the image are the stylistic features that Sabbagh moves with ease from the glossy pages, to the white cubes of the world's most famous museums and galleries - including the Musée de l'Élisée in Lausanne, considered as an international temple of contemporary photography.
Often protagonist of interviews and documentaries inquiring into his work, to date, Mustafa Sabbagh has been recognized by a photography historian the likes of Peter Weiermair as one of the 100 most influential photographers in the world, and one of the 40 most important nude portraitists - the only one from Italy, on an international basis.
His works are included in several internationally accredited publications (including Faces - the 70 most beautiful photography portraits of all time), in sold-out monographs (among which About Skin - ed. Damiani) and in many private and public permanent collections, both in Italy and abroad (here including the historical Farnesina Art Collection, the ArteFiera Foundation, and the acquisition of one of his unedited projects by the permanent contemporary art collection of MAXXI, Rome).
He’s now displaying an anthology exhibition “Mustafa Sabbagh. XI comandamento: non dimenticare” at ZAC Zisa Contemporary Art Zone in Palermo, 2000 mq in a former industrial hangar: 75 milestone photos form his past works, 10 videos and 3 site specific video installations, and the project acquired by the MAXXI museum, is presented for the first time.
Mustafa Sabbagh
current exhibitions
2016
Extraordinary Visions, MAXXI Museo nazionale delle Arti del XXI secolo, Rome
XI comandamento: non dimenticare, ZAC ai Cantieri Culturali alla Zisa, Palermo
solo exhibitions
2015
Ens Rationis, Museo Civico di Storia Naturale, Ferrara
#000 – Tuxedo Riot, SI Fest 015, Savignano sul Rubicone
Terzo movimento in scala di nero, Traffic Gallery, Bergamo
2014
Risen from the Dead, Traffic Gallery, Bergamo
Burka Moderni, MLB Gallery, Ferrara
Identità Migrante, Museo Civico di Palazzo Elti per Maravee Corpus, Udine
100 mq, Contact Zone Contemporary, Lugano
2013
La Nuit des Images: Corpus Delicti, Musée de l'Elysée, Lausanne
2012
Memorie Liquide, Museo Boldini, Ferrara
Sublimation and Separation, Wrong Weather Gallery, Porto
Alis volat propris, We*Do Gallery, Bangkok
2010
Oltre l’epiteliale, melepere artecontemporanea, Verona
group exhibitions
2016
Extraordinary Visions, MAXXI Museo Nazionale delle Arti del XXI secolo, Rome
2015
Onore al Nero, Scope International Art Fair, Miami Beach
Nirvana, Gewerbemuseum, Winterthur
Il Nuovo Vocabolario, Triennale Design Museum, Milan
Ostrale 015 International Exhibition of Contemporary Arts, Centre for Contemporary Art, Dresden
Facelessness, GC De Markten Culturcentrum, Brussels
2014
Nirvana, MUDAC Musée de Design et d'Arts appliqués Contemporains, Lausanne
Artsiders, Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria, Perugia
The Grass Grows at ArtBasel, Basel
Faceless part II, Mediamatic Museum, Amsterdam
2013
Tutto si muove, Castello di Rivara, Centro d’Arte Contemporanea, Rivara
Il corpo solitario, Centro d’Arte Contemporanea Ticino, Bellinzona
Faceless, Quartier 21, Vienna
Roma Caput Divina, Palazzo Altemps e Biblioteca Angelica, Rome
Hot, De Magistris Arte Contemporanea, Milan
Köpfe und, Centro d’Arte Contemporanea Ticino, Bellinzona
2012
Past Forward, Musei Civici, Bassano del Grappa
Deep Inside. Dissociations, Centro d’Arte Contemporanea Ticino, Bellinzona
2011
Génesis, Galéria H2OMás, BAC Barcelona Arte Contemporanea, Barcelona
Warm Up, PS1 MoMA Contemporary Art Foundation, San Francisco
2010
Art Fall, PAC Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Ferrara
monographs
2014
17:17, libro d’artista, edizione limitata e firmata di 34 copie, ed. Danilo Montanari – acquisito dalla collezione permanente di libri d’artista del MAXXI (Roma) e dalla Fondazione Maramotti (Reggio Emilia)
2013
Solo, libro d’artista, edizione limitata e firmata di 81 copie, a cura di Peter Weiermair
2012
Hidden Souls, edizione limitata di 200 copie
Memorie Liquide, ed. Fondazione Ferrara Arte
2010
About Skin, Damiani Editore – acquisito dalla collezione della Tate Gallery, London
books
2015
Faces: The 70 Most Beautiful Photography Portraits of All Time - edizione limitata di 500 copie, a cura di Peter Weiermair
2013
The Naked and The Nude, edizione limitata di 500 copie, curated by Peter Weiermair
special projects
2015
Controcanto: Masterclass by Mustafa Sabbagh, MAXXI Museo delle Arti del XXI secolo, Roma
2014
Trame di Cinema. Danilo Donati e la Sartoria Farani, Museo di Villa Manin, Udine – libro pubblicato da Silvana Editoriale
2013
Mustafa Sabbagh: Sights of Zurbarán, Museo di Palazzo dei Diamanti, Ferrara - pubbl. ed. Fondazione Ferrara Arte
video
www.vimeo.com/mustafasabbagh
documentary video
2013
SkyArte HD - Fotografi - Sculture in carne e ossa: Mustafa Sabbagh / SkyArte HD – Photographs – Sculptures in flesh and bones
