Photographs exploring family traditions, consumer culture and everyday signs of identity are on display at Bayt Al Wakrah as Tasweer presents ‘As the Image Unfolds – The Language of Athar,’ an exhibition running until December 15.
Featuring new works by Mohammed Fakhroo, Ghada al-Mawlawi and Raja Aderdor, the exhibition marks the culmination of Tasweer’s five-month artist residency programme, which gave the participants time and space to research, experiment and develop their photographic practices.
Taking its title from the Arabic word athar, meaning traces or imprints, the exhibition brings together three perspectives on memory, belonging and the environments people inhabit.
In a press statement, Tasweer director Khalifa al-Obaidly said the residency allowed the artists to explore their ideas and refine their approaches.
“A residency gives an artist something very valuable: time. Over these five months, Mohammed Fakhroo, Ghada al-Mawlawi and Raja Aderdor were able to question their ideas, test different approaches and allow their projects to develop gradually,” he said.
“What audiences see in The Language of Athar is the result of that process, reflecting three distinct ways of thinking about traces, memory and the places around us.”
Established in 2021, Tasweer has played an important role in developing Qatar’s photography scene and engaging photographers across the West Asia and North Africa region through its programmes, competitions and activities, al-Obaidly said.
The exhibition is the first outcome of the organisation’s artist-in-residence programme, which provided participants with studio space, stipends and mentorship to support their artistic development and the creation of new bodies of work inspired by their perspectives on life in Qatar.
“The aim is to help artists develop their practices and create a body of work that comes from the local context here in Qatar, seen through their eyes,” he said.
The three projects explore the exhibition’s central themes from different angles.
Al-Mawlawi, a Qatari photographer working across still-life and documentary photography, explores family memory in Portals of Belonging. Drawing on the hospitality rituals of her two grandmothers, the project uses heirloom objects, table settings, and everyday gestures of care to examine how love, memory, and belonging pass down through generations.
In For Sale?, Qatari filmmaker, photographer and writer Fakhroo examines consumer culture through images of shops, markets, workers, mannequins and staged displays. The project explores the relationship between commercial presentation, labour and desire, prompting viewers to look more closely at familiar retail environments.
Meanwhile, photographer and visual storyteller Aderdor presents Signs_Seen, Yet Unseen, a series of photographs taken across Qatar and Morocco. Featuring handwritten notices, religious phrases, shop signs and other everyday messages, the work explores how public signage reflects identity, faith, humour, labour and belonging.
Hosted at Bayt Al Wakrah, the residency enabled the artists to refine their projects through research, experimentation and dialogue. Al-Obaidly and Ghayyan al-Amine mentored the participants, while Maria Ovsyannikova also mentored and curated the exhibition.
Presented as part of the Qatar Creates 2026–27 season, The Language of Athar contributes to the country’s wider cultural programme spanning visual art, design, photography, heritage and other creative disciplines.
The exhibition is open at Bayt Al Wakrah from Saturday-Thursday, 9am-7pm, and on Fridays from 1.30pm-7pm. Admission is free, with booking required through the Tasweer website.