By Ayman Adly
Qatari artists and sculptor Jameela al-Sharaim was chosen as a guest of honour for Bari festival for contemporary art in Saint Treez church, earlier this month.
Considered as one of the pioneers of formative painting among women artists in Qatar, she was invited by the organisers after viewing her works at her Facebook account.
“I was the only women from Qatar and there was only another Palestinian woman artist with me there. They also hailed me as a pioneer artist who pursued such a career in spite of all the involved social and cultural challenges,” said al-Sharaim.
At Bari festival she took part with two of the latest painting, which mainly picture Arab horses with special focus on the traditional Qatari heritage.
She is also scheduled to fly to Italy next month to display some of her works there. She has also signed an agreement with a local gallery there to invite more Qatari artists to display their works in Italy and introduce the Qatari arts experience.
Al-Sharaim stressed the role of modern technology in enhancing arts knowledge, especially the Internet and social media websites. “These has opened our horizons as artists and gave us easy access to the great works of arts worldwide. This reflected positively on my works and the works of many other local artists. The Internet also opened the way for many artists to display their works to wider audience,” she pointed out.
However, she further stressed the importance of fostering real arts exhibitions and the need to increase people’s awareness about the importance of arts in life.
“It is good for the artist to see people viewing his or her works life to see their impression and interact with them. Accordingly, he would develop his artistic skills and styles to express and enhance such an interaction,” said al-Sharaim.
Al-Sharaim used to teach painting and drawing at local schools of different level and her teaching career lasted for around 20 years before she eventually retired and dedicated her time to her art and family. She expressed her view that teaching arts at the early stages of local schools is of utmost importance to discover the talents of potential artists and develop them accordingly.“Arts education reflects on the whole life positively and it could even improve the overall performance of students in other discipline,” she pointed out.
Al-Sharaim has some of her works displayed at Katara, Souq Waqif among other locations. She also hailed the concerned authorities encouragement and support of local artists.
“In the past, it was difficult for a Qatari woman to pursue such a career of painting and the resources were limited. It was really challenging but my mother encouraged me to develop my skills and eventually I joined Qatar University, the Faculty of Education and specialised in arts and painting. Then, my husband greatly supported me and helped me in every possible way to make such achievement in my career,” she related.
In the meantime, she said that younger artists and the new generation of Qatari artists have a good opportunity with such a variety of museums and arts events in the country, besides the various arts societies that welcome artists’ works.
Al-Sharaim took part at various local and regional arts exhibition including Saudi Arabia, Oman and UAE. She blends contemporary techniques with Qatari folk and traditional heritage themes in a harmonious way to express her deep love for the country, which is the predominant topic of her paintings and sculptures.
THE ARTIST: Al-Sharaim with one of her paintings.
