Images: Faruk Pinjo
On May 12, Tasweer invites you to visit the extraordinary installations by artists Mashael Al Hejazi and Hadeer Omar, at the Majlis Barahat Al Jufairi and Al Koot Fort. In walking distance between the sites' locations in Msheireb and Souq Waqif, Hadeer and Mashael, with Tasweer’s head of exhibitions Sinem Yoruk, and artistic director, Charlotte Cotton, will give their behind-the-scenes stories and reflections about the artworks' creation and curation.
About Mashael Al Hejazi
Mashael Al Hejazi is a Qatari photographer, living in Doha. Her passion for photography was ignited when she acquired her first Polaroid and Kodak 110 cameras. She is developing her personal style and searching for authenticity in the digital world, looking at how the past is reflected in the technology of the future. During her artist residency at Fire Station in Doha in 2019-20, and for her commissioned installation Mashael Al Hejazi: My Mother Lulwa’s House at Majlis Barahat Al Jufairi, Mashael has been working with local photographers and projects to capture memories of Doha Neighbourhoods for the next generation. Her project Tawtheeq focuses on the people and architecture of old Doha, capturing the rapidly changing daily life in the city. She is using her research into alternative photographic processes as the basis of the project, employing 19th century printing techniques such as Cyanotype and Gum Bichromate printing.
About Hadeer Omar
Hadeer Omar is an Egyptian visual and time-based media artist, and educator. She holds a BFA in Graphic Design (2010) and MFA in Design Studies (2016) from Virginia Commonwealth University, School of the Arts in Qatar (VCUarts Qatar). Her passion for documentary and cultural movements crosses disciplines within art, design, and film, as a means of presenting her identity through her work. She combines mediums to explore various techniques and methods to produce her illustrations, photographs, and videos. With no formal training in photography, the artist found her way by utilizing digital and analogue tools, to observe her surroundings, document her process, and build a body of work that tells stories. Her experimentation with photography is not limited to portraiture, street, conceptual, or editorial photography. She approaches photography as a form of self-expression, and reflection of current political and social events.
About Charlotte Cotton
Charlotte Cotton is a curator, writer and creative consultant who has explored photographic culture for over twenty-five years. She has held positions including curator of photographs at the Victoria and Albert Museum, head of programming at The Photographers’ Gallery in London, curator, and head of the Wallis Annenberg Department of Photography at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. She is the founding and current Artistic Director of Tasweer Photo Festival Qatar.
About Sinem Yoruk
Sinem Yoruk was born in London and is currently living in between London and Doha. In 2005, she co- founded Atelier Elipsis, the pioneering studio specializing in fine art printing in Istanbul, implementing museum standard printing with an ethical and global approach. In 2007, she founded and directed Elipsis Gallery, a space dedicated to creating a platform for artists and its emphasis on the importance of the photography as an art form, representing internationally-established and local emerging artists. In 2015, she moved back to London and founded Elipsis Projects a creative consultancy to galleries and non-profit organizations. She has been an ambassador and advisor to inaugural and second edition of Photo London, jury to numerous photography awards and portfolio reviews, also a nominator for the Prix Pictet Awards. Currently based in Doha, consulting Qatar Museums as Head of Exhibitions to Tasweer Photography Festival Qatar.