Steve Sabella, born 1975 in Jerusalem, Palestine, is a Berlin-based artist who uses photography and photographic installation as his principal modes of expression. In 1997 he earned a three-year art photography degree at the Musrara School of Photography in Jerusalem. In 2007 he received a BA in Visual Studies at Empire State College of the State University of New York. Through a Chevening Scholarship he earned an MA in Photographic Studies in 2008 at the University of Westminster with a Caparo Award of Distinction, and through a Saïd Foundation Scholarship he earned his second MA in art business in 2009 at Sotheby’s Institute of Art.

Sabella was one of the winners of the A. M. Qattan Foundation’s Young Artist of the Year Award in 2002. He was a shortlisted and exhibited artist in the 2008 Independent Photographers Terry O’Neil Award in the United Kingdom. He received the 2008 Ellen Auerbach Award from the Akademie der Künste in Berlin, which included in part the publishing of Sabella’s 2014 monograph.

From the late 1990s through 2007 Sabella was based in Jerusalem and exhibited internationally as well as extensively throughout Palestine, including eleven solos. He was one of the commissioned artists for the Istanbul Collection donated to the Ars Aevi Museum of Contemporary Art in Sarajevo. In 2009 he was one of the commissioned artists for the inauguration of Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha, where he presented the installation Settlement––Six Israelis & One Palestinian. His work was included in the show Keep Your Eyes on the Wall as a part of Les rencontres d’Arles photographie, Edition 2013, and in 2014 he participated in the FotoFest Biennial exhibition View from Inside. In 2014 he was commissioned by the Bahrain National Museum, where he presented his photographic series Sinopia as part of the touring exhibition Recreational Purpose.

His works have been collected by the British Museum in London; Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha; Contemporary Art Platform in Kuwait; Ars Aevi Museum of Contemporary Art in Sarajevo; Cuadro Fine Art Gallery in Dubai; the Salsali Private Museum in Dubai; the Barjeel Art Foundation in Sharjah; and the Samawi Collection in Dubai; as well as being acquired by several private collections.

Sabella has given art talks and presentations at various institutions, including the University of Cambridge; Turin University; the School of Oriental and African Studies in London; University of East London; Accademia Albertina di Belle Arti di Torino in Turin; Contemporary Art Platform in Kuwait; Rostock University; Akademie der Künste in Berlin; The British Museum; and The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

Among the several TV documentaries and short films on Sabella’s work are Jerusalem in Exile and Kan Yama Kan, two episodes in the documentary project Beyond Blue & Gray by Eyes Infinite Films (2007); Europe through Their Eyes by Ma’an TV Productions (2010); Artist of the Month, aired on IkonoMENASA (2011); Artist of the Month featured on IkonoTV (2013); Arts InSight: Who is Steve Sabella? produced by Ernie Manouse (2014); and In the Darkroom with Steve Sabella by Nadia J. Kabalan (2014). He also appeared as an invited speaker at TEDx Marrakech (2012).

Sabella has published numerous essays, including several as a regular contributor to Contemporary Practices journal, such as Palestinian Conceptual Art, Emily Jacir Shifting to an Art that Engages the Mind of the Viewer (2009), Is the United Arab Emirates Constructing its Art History? The Mechanisms that Confer Value to Art (2009), ‘Valued’ in the ‘West’ Sold in the ‘East’ (2010), Reconsidering the Value of Palestinian Art & Its Journey to the Art Market (Part 1, 2010; Part 2, 2011), The Business of Looking (2011), and The Colonization of the Imagination (2012). Sabella’s essay Hostage (2014) was published by Phaidon in From Galilee to Negev by Stephen Shore. In 2016 he published his memoir The Parachute Paradox, which won the 2016 Nautilus Book Awards and the 2017 Eric Hoffer Award. His autobiography, titled The Artist’s Curse, is forthcoming.

Solo exhibitions

2018 Evolution, Art Paris Art Fair, Grande Palais, Paris, France
Wavelengths, Metroquadro Gallery, Turin, Italy

2017 Fragments from our Beautiful Future, double solo show, The Bumiller Collection, Berlin, Germany

2016 Steve Sabella – The Parachute Paradox, Contemporary Art Platform, Kuwait City, Kuwait

2014 Fragments, Berloni Gallery, London, UK
Layers, Contemporary Art Platform, Kuwait City, Kuwait
Archeology of the Future, Boxart Gallery at the Museo Scavi Scaligeri, Verona, Italy
Independence, Meem Gallery, Dubai, UAE

2011 Euphoria & Beyond, The Empty Quarter Gallery, Dubai, UAE

2010 Steve Sabella: In Exile, Metroquadro Gallery, Rivoli (Turin), Italy

2005 Kan Yama Kan & Till the End, French Cultural Center, Jerusalem, Israel
Kan Yama Kan & Till the End, Franco-German Cultural Center, Ramallah, Palestine

2004 End of Days, Al-Kahf Gallery, International Center of Bethlehem, Bethlehem, Palestine
End of Days, Faculty of Fine Arts, Al Najah University, Nablus, Palestine

2003 End of Days, French Cultural Center, Jerusalem, Israel
End of Days, French Cultural Center, Gaza, Palestine
End of Days, Al-Hallaj Gallery, Ramallah, Palestine

2002 Search, Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center, Ramallah, Palestine
Identity, Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center, Ramallah Palestine
Life is Splendid, Artothèque de Montreal Gallery, Montreal, Canada

1998 Moment of Truth, French Cultural Center, Jerusalem, Israel

Selected group exhibitions

2018 Beirut Spring Festival, Beirut, Lebanon
Un œil ouvert sur le monde arabe, Institute du Monde Arabe, Paris, France

2017 Lady Dada Kalem, Kunsthaus KuLe, Berlin, Germany
Athens Photo Fest – Photobook Festival, Benaki Museum Pireos Annexe, Athens, Greece

2016 Inaugurazione nuova sede a Torino, Metroquadro, Turin, Italy
After the Last Sky, Ballhaus Naunystrasse, Berlin, Germany
The Country of Last Things, Art-Lab Berlin, Berlin, Germany

2015 View from Inside: Contemporary Arab Video, Photography, and Mixed Media, Abu Dhabi Festival, Emirates Palace Gallery, Abu Dhabi, UAE
1st Biennial of Arab Photographs, Arab World Institute, Paris, France

2014 Keep Your Eye on the Wall, Contemporary Art Platform CAP, Kuwait City, Kuwait
View from Inside: Contemporary Arab Video, Photography, and Mixed Media, FotoFest Biennial, Houston, Texas, USA
Recreational Purpose, Bahrain National Museum, Manama, Bahrain
Bridge to Palestine, Mark Hachem Gallery at the Beirut Exhibition Center, Beirut, Lebanon

2013 Berlin, Israel/Palestine or How Will a New Mindset Be Possible, Sprechsaal, Berlin, Germany
Keep Your Eye on the Wall, Les rencontres Arles photographie, Arles, France
Keep Your Eye on the Wall, Photoquai 2013 Biennale, Espace Central Dupon, Paris, France

2012 The Changing Room, Arab Reflections on Praxis and Times, London 2012 Olympic Cultural Program, Hub Westminster, London, UK

2011 The Changing Room: Arab Reflections on Praxis and Times, Spazio Qubi, Turin, Italy

2010 Palestine, La création dans tous ses états, National Museum of Bahrain, Manama, Bahrain
This is Not a Love Song, The Empty Quarter Gallery, Dubai, UAE
Young Academy, Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Germany
The Interrupted Image, Nicholas Robinson Gallery, New York, USA
Borderlines, Deconstructing Exile, Green Art Gallery, Dubai, UAE
Residua, Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE
Told, Untold, Retold, Mathaf Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha, Qatar

2009 The Independent Photographers Terry O’Neil Award Exhibition, Independent Photographers Gallery, East Sussex, UK
Deconstructing Myths & Realities, Galerie Caprice Horn, Berlin, Germany
Palestine: La création dans tous ses états, Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, France
NOW: Art of the 21st Century, Phillips de Pury, London, UK

2008 Gates of the Mediterranean, Palazzo Piozzo, Rivoli (Turin), Italy
SKIP INTRO, P3 Gallery, London, UK
Neighbors in Dialogue, Istanbul Collection for Ars Aevi Museum of Contemporary Art in Sarajevo, Collegium Artisticum City Gallery, Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina
The Independent Photographers Terry O’Neil Award Exhibition, Fulham Palace, London, UK

2007 Neighbors in Dialogue, Istanbul Collection for Ars Aevi Museum of Contemporary Art in Sarajevo, Istanbul, Turkey
Challenging Walls, Walkscreen, projection on the Separation Wall, Jerusalem, Israel

2006 Art in a Social Context, Boomerang Theatre, Cork, Ireland

2005 At Home, Abrons Arts Center, New York, USA
Shaping Communities in Times of Crisis: Narratives of Land, Peoples and Identities, International Center of Bethlehem, Bethlehem, Palestine

2004 Frankfurt Book Fair as part of the Palestinian Ministry of Culture Exhibition, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

2003 Mind, Body, & Soul, ARC Gallery, Chicago, USA

2002 Homeland, Musrara School of Photography, Jerusalem, Israel
Eyes from Jerusalem, Museum of Rome at Trastevere, Rome, Italy

1999 Kick Off, The New Gallery, Jerusalem, Israel

1998 Search, Beit Ha’am Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel

 

Awards/Scholarship

2008 Chevening Scholarship for MA in Photographic Studies, University of Westminster, Westminster, UK
Caparo Award of Distinction for MA in Photographic Studies from University of Westminster, Westminster, UK
Independent Photographers Terry O'Neil Award, London, UK
Ellen Auerbach Award, Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Germany

2004 Preoccupying Zones: Young Artist of the Year Award 2004, A. M. Qattan Foundation, Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center, Ramallah, Palestine

2002 Hope and the Aesthetic Moment: Young Artist of the Year Award 2002, A. M. Qattan Foundation, Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center, Ramallah, Palestine