Harriet Bardsley-Hogg completed her studies in the UK and has lived in the UAE since 2011. Drawn to the region by the richness of its traditions and the vitality of its contemporary scene, she has travelled extensively across the Middle East and North Africa, forging close ties with its artists and immersing herself in the cultures from which their work emerges. This passionate engagement, together with a perspective informed by years of working between the Arab world and the West, underpins her vision of a gallery programme powerfully rooted in the region and in active dialogue with international audiences.
Harriet joined Tabari in 2014 and, working in close partnership with the gallery’s founder, Maliha Tabari, has helped to realise their shared ambition of championing artists from the Middle East and its diaspora on an international stage. Now the gallery’s Director, Harriet has overseen its development into one of the most respected galleries specialising in art from the region. Guided by long-term strategy and enduring relationships with collectors, curators and institutions in Europe, Asia and the Americas, she has positioned Tabari within a global conversation. Committed to the continued development of the gallery’s represented artists, Harriet works closely with each of them to bring their visions to life, nurturing their practices and extending their reach through collaborations with leading museums and institutions and biennales.
Since 2015, when she commissioned her first work from Hazem Harb’s Damascus series, Harriet has assembled a personal collection of modern and contemporary Middle Eastern art. Drawn in particular to artists who bring overlooked histories and everyday experiences into view, she is a committed advocate for art’s capacity to illuminate the lesser-known realities of the dynamic societies in which she lives, and to complicate the narratives through which they are so often framed externally. In both her professional and personal commitments, Harriet remains dedicated to advancing the international visibility of artists from the region and to strengthening the cultural infrastructure that supports their practices.