(Above) Moroccan-born artist Hassan Hajjaj's work stars in the first round of works lined up for the new Art Fund Collection of Middle Eastern photography. Photo © V&A images
Plans for a "start-up capsule" of contemporary photography from the Middle East in the UK will go ahead after the Art Fund agreed to pay for a joint project between the Victoria and Albert Museum and the British Museum.
The London institutions have persuaded the charity to provide £100,000 towards the creation of a showpiece of images from the region, first mooted in a combined bid by the pair last year. The set will be known as The Art Fund Collection of Middle Eastern photography at the V and A and the British Museum.
Inaugural starring exhibitors will include Moroccan-born artist Hassan Hajjaj, whose subversive takes on Islamic tradition were shortlisted for the V and A's Jameel Prize last year, and Shadi Ghadirian, the Iranian artist who came to prominence for her irresistibly inventive positioning of household utensils in place of female faces under veils.
Hassan Hajjaj, Saida in Green (2000). Digital c-print and and tyre frame, artist's proof. For V&A collection
Twenty-one shots have already been bought from Rose Issa Projects in a £34,000 deal, and the Kensington specialists in art from the Arab world have donated a further three works – Ghadirian's Basket with Beer Cans and Table with Stereo and Amirali Ghasemi’s Table With Food – to the opening collection.
In a statement issued through the Art Fund, the buyers said they had been "meeting regularly" with other museums across the country to pursue "a long-term collecting strategy for Middle Eastern art". The collection's first major exhibition is planned for 2012.
"I am delighted that the Art Fund has generously agreed to allocate funding for this important collection and to be working alongside the V and A on this project," said British Museum Director Neil MacGregor.
"The British Museum is committed to ensuring that contemporary material from across the world is represented in the collection. This funding allows us to add to our unparalleled collection of Middle Eastern Art in the significant area of photography."
Shadi Ghadirian, Untitled from the Like Everyday Series (2000-2001). C-print. © The Saatchi Gallery, saatchi-gallery.co.uk
Art Fund Director Stephen Deuchar said the scheme would be a "new and challenging venture."
"The Collection will celebrate the photography of richly diverse countries, each sharply distinctive yet bound together in their cultural and historical heritage," he added.
"We hope the Collection will enable a wide public to discover the wealth and variety of Middle Eastern art and culture, and gain a sense of the pace of change it is currently experiencing."
