SOAS Gallery

The SOAS Gallery as part of SOAS for over 25 years has displayed exhibitions that reflect the many diverse subjects and regions studied by the School being dedicated to promoting a better understanding of the art, culture, history and contemporary contexts of Africa, Asia and the Middle East to a new and wider audience through its programme of changing exhibitions and use of the Schools Collection

s. The inaugural exhibition was held at the Galleries in May 1996 Empire of the Sultans, an exhibition of Ottoman art from the collection of Dr. Nasser D.Khalili subsequent exhibitions covering a wide range of subjects reflecting the Schools areas of study have included:
Chinese textiles; the European experience of Africa and the Middle East; Islamic art traditions; contemporary Israeli art; contemporary art and design from Africa, Asia and the Middle East; Persian paintings; Japanese art; Middle Eastern archaeology; historical Indian photography; Ethiopian 17th century art and architecture; history of the Arabian Peninsula; traditional crafts including Malay wood carving; Chinese ceramics; Egyptian textiles and tapestries; exploring the various medical, spiritual and dietary traditions for well-being from Islamic, Hindu and Buddhist customs; contemporary Middle Eastern art and Indian music traditions amongst many others. In January 2011 the Gallery reached a landmark with its 100th Exhibition Bridge of Knowledge: Western Appreciation of Arab and Islamic Civilisation in the Arcadian Library. Later that year it hosted the first ever major exhibition on the Golden Temple (Harimandir Sahib) of Amritsar and in 2013 the landmark exhibition The Everlasting Flame: Zoroastrianism in History and Imagination the first exhibition of its kind to provide a visual narrative of the history of Zoroastrianism. The launch exhibition of SOAS’s own collection Objects of Instruction: Treasures of the School of Oriental and African Studies held in 2007 led to the opening of the Foyle Special Collection Gallery within the Gallery where a selection of the School’s own collection is on rotating display or themed to relate to key temporary exhibitions. The exhibitions shown have provided the first opportunity for many artists, collections and exhibitions, including charity campaigns, to be shown in this country. Further details of these can be found here https://www.soas.ac.uk/gallery/previous/