Qatar Museums (QM) is preparing to host the second Fire Station, ‘Artist in Residence’ exhibition on June 12. The event will celebrate the accomplishments of the current group of 20 talented artists in residence.
The exhibition, under the visionary guidance of QM’s chairperson, HE Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, will showcase selected works from each of the artists during their nine months in residency.
The group of talented creatives, 10 of whom are Qatari, consists of artists from a range of different disciplines including art, photography, video, design, painting, poetry and drawing.
The Fire Station Artist in Residence programme, which started in September 2015, sits at the heart of Doha’s thriving art community. During the artists’ nine months in residency, they collaborate with fellow creatives and develop their own techniques. Residents also benefit from weekly mentoring sessions and work alongside internationally acclaimed artists.
Previous mentoring sessions with international artists have included Cai Guo-Qiang and Luc Tuymans.
“These artists have worked extremely hard in the past nine months to produce works that will truly inspire our community, to help build a culture of creativity and innovation in the country,” Fire Station director Khalifa al-Obaidli said.
“This initiative perfectly reflects our commitment to nurture and support a vibrant local art scene, and give young and emerging artists a shared space to experiment, create, grow, and flourish,” he added.
The 20 artists that are part of the 2016-2017 ‘Artist in Residence’ programme are: Frances Grane, Fahad al-Obaidly, Lulu al-Musfer, Zoe Hawk, Zach Stensen, Amr Elkafrawy, Richard Blackwell, Hana al-Saadi, Maryam Ahmed, Maryam al-Suwaidi, Mariah Dekkenga, Tanzeela Abbasi, Ahmed al-Jufairi, Maryam al-Semaitt, Nawar al-Mutlaq, Abeer al-Kuwari, Nesma Khodier, Juan Martinez, Maryam al-Homaid, and Titika Stamouli.