Fair Impressions: Nadia Samdani at Frieze London and Frieze Masters
The collector and cofounder of the Samdani Art Foundation admires the work of Bangaldeshi artists Novera Ahmed and Ashfika Rahman
The collector and cofounder of the Samdani Art Foundation admires the work of Bangaldeshi artists Novera Ahmed and Ashfika Rahman
Matthew McLean What was your overall impression of the fairs today, in one sentence?
Nadia Samdani As exciting as ever and busy, with collectors and institutions from all over the world. This part of the year is the most exciting time to be in London and Frieze is the highlight. I saw many friends today.
MM Did you see work by artists you already collect?
NS There’s a lot of artists who are part of our collection and who we’ve worked with in the past through the Dhaka Art Summit. But I mainly choose to come to Frieze for new discoveries. At Frieze Masters, I discovered a very interesting Japanese artist, Sekine Yoshio, whose works are at Joost van den Bergh. They’re from the 1960s and ’70s Beautiful, simple, mint condition. These are the sorts of treasures you find.
MM What was surprising for you at the fair?
NS I was very happy to see many people who are not ‘mega’ art patrons but came to see and explore and be converted. That curiosity about art is a really good sign.
MM Having visited today, what’s your recommendation for someone visiting an art fair for the first time?
NS Just come in and see what draws your interest. I feel like a lot of people – like, my ‘non-art friends’ – ask me ‘Oh, what do you like, what did you buy?’ But I went through my own journey to bring me here: something that I would have liked when I came to a fair 10 or 15 years ago might have been very different, because I have evolved as a person. So, it’s your journey. You cannot ask someone else. You have to do it. And fairs are a really good place to go on that journey, because it’s a marketplace with art from all over the world of different varieties, and the galleries try to bring their best work and introduce their new artists.
MM Was there an artwork that you fell in love with today, or that really spoke to you?
NS One of my highlights of this year’s Frieze Masters is Jhaveri Contemporary showing Novera Ahmed in Spotlight. She was a Bangladeshi modernist, one of Bangladesh’s first female sculptors. In the ’50s she made a lot of public sculptures in Dhaka and all over the country, but over time many of them have been neglected or destroyed. In the ’70s, she moved to Paris and married a French husband, and lived the rest of her life there. What this means is that though in the Bangladesh National Museum there are dozens of her works, there are very few in private collections in the country. Jhaveri got in touch with the estate and are showing more, so that is heartening.
At Vadehra Art Gallery, there is a young Bangladeshi artist, Ashfika Rahman. She’s a photographer, activist, cancer survivor: she won the Future Generation Art Prize. She's constantly evolving, she’s currently at the Rijksakademie, Amsterdam, and these works the gallery are showing are a beautiful continuation of her journey. You know, our country, Bangladesh, was one of the fastest growing economies in the world, and there was so much activity in the art and cultural scene. But now, when the country has so much turmoil – economic, political – arts and culture often get kind of lost. So to see Bangladeshi artists’ work here on the international stage brings a lot of hope.
MM Which exhibition is next on your ‘to-see’ list?
NS Oh my God, what am I doing? I’m going to go to Delfina Foundation, which usually has a little exhibition on and I’m excited to see that. I went to the opening of ‘Nigerian Modernism’ at Tate Modern but there were, like, a thousand people there, so I’m going to go back. And then the Barbican for Lucy Raven (I have already seen Mona Hatoum and Giacometti). As usual, all the galleries on Cork Street are showing exciting things. They call this ‘Frieze Week’ but with everything on it feels more like ‘Frieze Month’!
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Main image: Nadia Samdani on the stand of Jhaveri Contemporary at Frieze London 2025, with a work by Ali Kazam (left) and Lubna Chowdhary, Assembly, 2025 (right)
