Trifold, an exhibition showcasing the modular origami creations of the female security staff at Education City, is on at Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar’s (VCU-Q) Saffron Hall until October 10.
The idea for the Trifold exhibition came about when VCU-Q graphic design alumna Haneen al-Shareef came across a piece of modular origami on the desk of a security woman at VCU-Q.
Al-Shareef found out that six security women, who help maintain safety and security on the Education City campus by day and sometimes by night, make modular origami in their free time. They collect waste paper and recycle it into unique one-off paper sculptures. Their beautiful creations come from a process of imagination and experimentation.
Modular origami is a more complex form of paper-folding, where multiple pieces of paper are folded into identical modules and in this case a triangle, hence the name Trifold. They are joined together in a construction that would be impossible to achieve with just one piece of paper.
Al-Shareef collaborated with Dana A Ahdab, assistant professor of graphic design at VCU-Q, and Hadeer Omar, VCU-Q alumna and graphic designer at VCU-Q’s Research Centre, and decided to host an exhibition which they jointly curated.
“The objective of this exhibition,” say the curators, “is to value the talent of these security women and encourage and motivate them. We would also like to help them develop their skills further and shed more light on this craft.”
The works on display have been created by Gemma Dela Rosa, Joy Tolledo, Anita Nicholas Jennifer, Raballo Rowena Manatala and Yvonne Banes. The pieces are for sale.