The power of cross-cultural dialogue: Celebrating Qatar’s Years of Culture initiatives TK

Since 2012, Qatar’s Years of Culture initiative has worked to forge long-lasting partnerships between Qatar and other nations. Spearheaded and chaired by Her Excellency Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the aim of the initiative is to promote respect and understanding among nations and people by developing programs related to all aspects of culture, recognizing it as a crucial part of a human being’s daily life. Each year is organized with support from the cultural institutions, ministries, foundations, and private and public sector partners of Qatar and partner nations as well as with the assistance from embassies in Qatar and abroad.

Programs span one year and bring together a wide spectrum of activities, including cultural heritage, creative industries, social development, and innovation. Through such programming Qatar, alongside partner nations, aims to explore and learn more about each other’s nations and cultures. The lasting impact results in further legacy projects and a heightened awareness of the importance of cross-cultural dialogue through creative means. The 2024 Year of Culture takes place with the Kingdom of Morocco, marking the first time Qatar celebrates one-on-one with a North African country.

“The initiative will give the people of our countries dozens of exciting opportunities to learn deeply about one another and forge new connections, with a special emphasis this time on cultural heritage and its continuing influence on contemporary life,” said Sheikha Al Mayassa in a statement when announcing the year.

Previous Years of Culture have included: Qatar-Japan 2012, Qatar-UK 2013, Qatar-Brazil 2014, Qatar-Türkiye 2015, Qatar-China 2016, Qatar-Germany 2017, Qatar-Russia 2018, Qatar-India 2019, Qatar-France 2020, Qatar-USA 2021, Qatar-MENASA 2022, and Qatar-Indonesia 2023.

The effects from the Years of Culture initiatives are notable. Programs are designed to create lasting memories and lead to the development of creative, compassionate, and engaged individuals with a global outlook. An example is the Photography Journey, the longest-running Years of Culture exchange, which has fostered and promoted the careers of over a dozen photographers since launching during Qatar-Brazil 2014.

The power of Qatar’s Years of Culture initiative is how it embodies Qatar’s steadfast belief that culture, a potent means for dialogue, serves as an essential component of diplomacy. At the core of the program is the promotion of cultural exchange and artistic collaboration. In the following, four notable Qatari alumnae, explain their creative process and the profound experience participating in various Years of Culture initiatives had on their work.

Known for her explorations of memory and identity through her multidisciplinary artwork, Al Muftah's recent works delve deeper into Qatar’s cultural heritage, using mixed media to evoke a sense of nostalgia and communal memory. In 2022, during the Qatar-France Year of Culture Al Muftah worked on the Aubusson Tapestry Project— an artwork she worked on in collaboration with the 600-year-old French institution, Aubusson Tapestry. Part of the establishment of diplomatic relations between France and Qatar, the resulting contemporary tapestry evoked not only French heritage but also Qatar’s strong textile and weaving traditions as well as its commitment to modern and contemporary art.

Al Muftah graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University of the Arts in Qatar in 2010. Her works have been exhibited in Qatar, Europe and Asia. In 2018, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha staged her solo exhibition: Bouthayna Al-Muftah: Echoes. In 2020, she exhibited at Palais De Tokyo Paris, Echoes II and at The Yuz Museum, Shanghai: Um Al Salasil Wil Thahab in 2023.

“The core inspiration for my art is rooted in my desire to sustain and continuously reawaken that which acts as the roots of our society - that which has led us to be who we are today,” says Al Muftah. “My fascination with surrounding context has led me to develop a strong interest in regional folklore and lives in the old neighborhoods of Qatar - its people, its customs, its visual identity and its progression into the metropolis that it is now. My work involves an exploration of collective memory and history but also imploring my viewers to explore their own bank of memories and how that has formed their own personal identity and who they are today.” Al Muftah stresses how “each generation adds its own interpretation and realization of the recalled subject, bringing to consciousness a feeling of nostalgia over the past through words that remind us of forgotten traditions for example. The artworks redefine our collective state of longing, while inviting the viewer to step into a time and place and look at the culture in a deconstructed form.”

Qatar’s cultural heritage features heavily in Al Muftah’s work through visual and conceptual references to folkloric songs, poetry, jewelry and relics. “I not only want to immortalize and bring back these symbols that are associated with the region’s historical profile,” she says. “But also activate memories that characterized each of our childhoods. My work is multifaceted and calls upon references to my heritage but also inner child memories, through the games we played, the things we wore, the individual traditions we each possessed - together, making up our personal and collective cultural heritage.”

One of Qatar’s foremost and pioneering artists, Yousef Ahmad is not just one of the Arabian Gulf’s artistic pioneers but also an inspiration for young, emerging artists in the region. He has participated in Qatar’s Year of Culture in Japan and in Indonesia. The former took place in 2012, marking the first of Qatar’s Year of Culture’s programs, and in 2022, a decade later, the “Dialogue of Papers” artist collaboration and exhibition took place as a legacy project of the Qatar-Japan Year of Culture. The exhibition showcased 28 calligraphy-inspired artworks created by Ahmad and Japanese artist Hayaki Nishigaki. In 2023, Ahmed partnered with Indonesian artist Widi Pangestu, inviting him to his studio in Doha to create unique paper artworks representing elements of both as part of the Qatar-Indonesia Year of Culture.

Ahmed, born in 1955 in Al Jasra, an area in Doha, graduated with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts and education in 1976 from Helwan University in Egypt. He went on to obtain his master’s in fine arts in 1982 in Painting from Mills College in California, the United States.

“My activities right now focus on encouraging younger artists,” explains Ahmed. “As a pioneer artist for Qatar it is crucial to support the next generation that is now working with computer, digital, video and installation—very different from my own style. I am happy now that we have all these different media—it allows us to find more ways to express ourselves.”

He is known for his abstract art in which he uses various media to experiment with different forms in Arabic calligraphy, but also processes an impressive portfolio of realistic works. Additionally, Ahmed uniquely developed his own medium consisting of handmade Palm tree paper mixed with local pigments. His passion is to create materials from the local environment of Doha to best present the visual language of his homeland.

“The Year of Culture initiatives that I participated in with Japan and Indonesia were about connecting cultures through art and also through diverse materials,” he explains. “You learn about the similarities and differences between different cultures and find ways of working together through the creation of new works of art.”

Doha-based multidisciplinary artist uses her art to address important socio-political matters, particularly related to the Gulf region. Through her playful sculptures, cartoons and illustrations Al Khater uses satire to comment on international affairs and matters concerning the GCC. In 2020 she was part of the Qatar-France Year of Culture artistic program whereby she collaborated with French studio Bonjour Lab on The Jardin de Lumière or “Garden of Light” for Nuit Blanche in Paris. The result was a digital, interactive and multi-sensory installation situated outside at the Kiosque des Champs Elysées inviting visitors to travel via a contemporary reinterpretation of the Persian carpet. The piece was inspired by the nature of Qatar as well as the motifs found on traditional rugs. Viewers could walk on the installation and encounter the nature beneath their feet. The work was ultimately the result of combining French know-how in creative technology with Qatar’s natural landscape and Arabian heritage.

“When Qatar Museums began the Year of Culture, they understood the importance of showing works by artists from Qatar and elsewhere in the Middle East abroad and how this fosters cross-cultural exchange,” explains Al Khater. “There is great power in showing this. Through the initiative many artists could present their work, showcase their ideas, what is taking place in Doha and how people are interacting with our ever-changing environment, our traditions, our heritages, natural environment and animals.”

All these aspects, she states, are big drivers for her artistic process and work. “Whether I do it in a social political manner or through a more intimate method, commenting on elements in the culture around us that are forgotten or overlooked and the ability to do this in a way that pushes boundaries and challenges perceptions through artistic collaborations with artists from other cultures opens the doors to communication and further creativity.”

The medium in which Al Khater works in is largely driven by ideas. “I like to make new associations with common things like with puns or visual puns or making associations with the phrases and quotes that maybe come from the western world that I can then reflect and twist for an Arab audience, or vice versa, tackling Western influences and how they're impacting our society,” she states.

Most recently Al Khater participated in “Watering the Desert| Contemporary Art from Qatar,” a traveling exhibition of contemporary art from Qatar to China that was on view until March 3, 2024. Marking the first large-scale exhibition of Qatari and Qatar-based contemporary artists to be presented in China, the exhibition showcased the work of 37 multidisciplinary artists, designers, and filmmakers working within Qatar’s artistic scene. It was curated by Qatar Museums’ Issa Al Shirawi and Maryam Hassan Al Thani, in collaboration with Yuz Museum.

“In China I was able to showcase an artwork that is more conceptual and tackles some of the intangible elements that every society is facing in their own unique manner.” Whether it is in China, France or Qatar, Al Khater embraces the ability to connect with other cultures while still exploring and relaying her own Qatari heritage.

Celebrated composer, singer and songwriter Dana Al Fardan has been busy crafting new musical works that bridge cultural divides. Through her work, Al Fardan’s music strives to express elements from her own Qatari culture while also resonating globally, reflecting her deep-rooted passion for her heritage and her desire for cross-cultural harmony. Her work offers a blend of Arabic influenced contemporary classical music in a way that is universally accessible. She is presently the Cultural Ambassador of the renowned Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra (QPO). She has played alongside the London Metropolitan Orchestra at the Theater Royal Haymarket in London where she debuted a program of her repertoire that saw Qatari music exposed to a UK audience for the first time. In 2019 she performed her music at the United Nations for their annual UN Day celebrations, commemorating the UN’s 74th anniversary that featured the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Eimeer Noon who that same year conducted the Oscars.

One of her main aims is to further develop Qatar’s music industry and encourage aspiring Qatari musicians, singers and songwriters. Al Fardan also greatly believes in the mission of the Year of Culture and participated in 2022 in Qatar-MENASA. “It has been an amazing opportunity for me to exercise my passion for music; I have been looking at all the different features that characterize the different cultures around the Middle East and bringing them together to create a unique sound,” she said in a statement at the time.

“Different cultures have different textures,” she adds. “The source and the base of music is the same. They're the same tones that will generate sadness, an uplifting sensation and feelings of inspiration. The sound of victory sounds the same in all cultures. The sound of tragedy sounds the same. The main difference are the textures—those are the distinctive patterns and identities and distinctive components that give each piece of music its culture and identity.”

For Al Fardan, the guitars in pearl diving music are unique to this region particularly due to the extra texture in the music emanating from the drums.

Al Fardan also participated in the Qatar-USA Year of Culture in 2021 with her song “Rising” in collaboration with the United States Air Forces Central Command Band.

“We live in a world in which there's a lot of noise and a lot of people really don't understand the importance of space to breathe and to generate energy and to cultivate energy, and to preserve energy.”

When it comes to music, she explains, “especially when it comes to hearing sound, being able to recreate sound, being able to generate sound and put them together in something coherent, it usually comes from a story.” And this story is based in a particular culture. Hearing the music, with its unique textures, explains Al Fardan, brings people closer to understanding each other while listening to the music.