Muhammad Ali’s twin daughter visits MIA

Jamillah Ali, one of the twin daughters of the late boxing legend Muhammad Ali, visited Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) earlier this week for a private tour of an exhibition dedicated to her father, Qatar Museums (QM) said.

The exhibition, ‘Muhammad Ali: Tribute to a Legend’ is on show until February 25, 2017 in MIA’s fourth floor eastern gallery. It is the first significant exhibition dedicated to Muhammad Ali since his passing earlier this year.

During her visit, Jamillah Ali met with QM chairperson HE Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani. The exhibition brings together a collection of 22 significant artefacts from the boxing champion’s distinguished career, including photography from Ali’s outdoor exhibition bout at the Doha Stadium in 1971; his momentous ‘draft exemption’ letter, which is exhibited for the first time on loan on the 50th anniversary that a 24-year-old first Ali wrote it, and memorabilia spanning Ali’s journey to the 1960 Rome Olympics.

The exhibition has been collected and curated under the auspices of QM’s 3-2-1 Olympic and Sports Museum, which will open in a permanent home as part of the redeveloped Khalifa International Stadium in 2017, featuring some of the exhibits from this show.