Tasweer Project Award 2024 Jurors

Maryam Wahid is a British Photographer and the Head of Program and Outreach at Tasweer Photography Festival by Qatar Museums. She is recognised for her proficiency in both visual storytelling and the broader creative realm. Her work extends beyond photography, covering diverse artistic disciplines such as conceptualisation, production, curation, and interactive engagement. With a deep understanding of identity, migration, memory, womanhood, and the notion of home and belonging, she creates narratives that resonate across various artistic disciplines, making her a multifaceted creative professional at the forefront of the industry.

Wahid holds a First-Class BA (Hons) in Photography from Birmingham City University (UK). She has won many prestigious awards, these include accolades from The British Journal of Photography, Format Festival, Photoworks and The Magenta Foundation. She has been commissioned by The Guardian, The Financial Times, Wellcome Collection, The Telegraph and Digital Photographer Magazine.

Her work has been exhibited Nationally and Internationally. Wahid's solo photography exhibitions have been shown at The National Portrait Gallery (London) in 2023, Midlands Arts Centre (Birmingham) in 2022 and the Ffotogallery (Wales) in 2019.

She has judged Art and Photography competitions for Photoworks, The New Art Gallery Walsall and was featured on BBC’s Great British Photography Challenge television program with renowned photographer, Rankin. Wahid was invited to be on the judging selection panel for a prestigious competition held by the National Portrait Gallery spearheaded by, Her Royal Highness, The Princess of Wales, Catherine Middleton for the project, Hold Still (2020), an ambitious community project that created a unique collective portrait of the UK during lockdown.

Sheikha Maryam Al Thani

Sheikha Maryam is currently a Consultant Curator in the exhibitions department at Qatar Museums. Sheikha Maryam has held numerous positions at Qatar Museums, such as the head curator of Tasweer Festival (2020-2023). She has most recently co-curated the Art Mill 2030 exhibition, which opened in October 2022 and is the instigator and curator of Tasweer's Contemporary Heritage Projects.

Sheikha Maryam has previously worked on the photographic aspect of Qatar Contemporary: Art and Photography presented in Russia (2018) and has also served as the co-curator of the exhibition Cultural Exposures: Photography and Film from Qatar in Berlin (2017). She has also curated the exhibition Fragments: An Exhibition by Mahmoud Obaidi (2016) and co-curated Art Mill Museum 2030 (2022-2023) while working for Qatar Museums.

Additionally, she has previously commissioned international artists for the National Museum of Qatar. Her work on public art commissions includes Richard Serra: East-West; KAWS: Small Lie; Jean Michel-Othoniel: Cosmos; and Simone Fattal: Gates of the Sea.

Sami Al Ramyan

Sami Al Ramyan is a documentary photographer from Kuwait. He worked on numerous humanitarian documentary photography projects, including education initiatives in several poor countries, water scarcity and drilling of artesian wells in Niger, documenting the lives of Syrian and Yemeni refugees in camps, airlift operations during the Turkey earthquake, and documenting relief efforts due to the effects of wars, famine, and natural disasters for various local humanitarian organizations such as the Kuwait Red Crescent and international organizations like the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

His photographs have been published in numerous international magazines and photography websites, including National Geographic Arabic, Brownbook Magazine, Aramco Magazine, and others. He held an exhibition titled ""Yemen Now"" in both London and Kuwait and was among the participants in the first exhibition of National Geographic Arabic magazine in Abu Dhabi.

He was selected to participate in the International Visitor Leadership Program in October 2022 which was for photojournalists from 76 countries organized by the U.S. Department of State in Washington DC.

Meriem Berrada

Meriem Berrada is an artistic director and curator. She also works as an independent consultant alongside consulting firms in cultural engineering and strategy. She lives and works between Marrakech and Paris.

Between 2013 and 2018, Berrada conceived and implemented various artistic projects for the Fondation Alliances (Morocco) and directed its editions. She developed structural programs such as La Chambre Claire, a competition supporting emerging African photography, and Passerelles, a cross-sponsorship initiative that combines the cultural and social poles of the Foundation through workshops raising awareness of contemporary creation in peri-urban areas. In 2016, she developed the Museum of African Contemporary Art Al Maaden (MACAAL) in Marrakech, where she took on the role of artistic director starting in 2018.

Committed to structuring the artistic ecosystem of the continent, in 2019 Meriem has developed the MACAAL Bootcamp, a training programme which combines sectoral skills and innovative modules around leadership and personal development, helping young cultural operators working in the contemporary and visual art fields in Africa to strengthen their profiles. Meriem frequently participates in mentoring programs, including Duvangu (Gabon, 2024) and NOOR Photo (2023).

In 2021, Meriem Berrada was co-curator of the 13th edition of the Rencontres de Bamako- Biennale de la photographie Africaine, and the head curator of the exhibition What is forgotten and what remains at the National Museum of Immigration History – Palais de la Porte Dorée, as part of the Africa2020 cultural season. She is also part of several juries: British Journal of photography OpenWalls (UK), Artagon-Enowe price (France), and the selection committee of Regards du Grand Paris 6 - CNAP X ATELIERS MÉDICIS.

In 2020, Meriem has been selected in the 40 under 40 Apollo art magazine list of the most influential and talented people in the art world born or based in Africa and in the French ranking 100 Femmes de Culture.

She has taken part in several lectures such as: « Museums Round Table » San Francisco (2023) « The Future of Africa-based Curatorial Practice » Harvard, Cambridge (2022) the Africa Creative Industries Summit 2021 (Atlantic Council- Washington, DC).