Doha, Qatar: Tasweer Photography Festival yesterday opened the second edition of Frame and Focus at Al Hosh Gallery, presenting the final projects of 12 photographers who have completed Tasweer’s flagship Frame and Focus Advanced 14-week Photography Course.
On view until October 5, the exhibition features documentary photography, portraiture, and conceptual image-making shaped by each participant’s cultural background and personal experience to present intimate perspectives on place, community, and contemporary life.
Director of Tasweer, Khalifa Al Obaidly said: “Frame and Focus speaks to a wider ambition for photography in Qatar and the region: to give photographers the space, guidance and visibility to take their practice further and reach new audiences. By investing in artistic development and creating platforms for work to be seen and discussed, Tasweer is helping shape a more connected photographic community and opening new possibilities for the voices and stories emerging from the region.” The programme is delivered by Tasweer in partnership with the Qatar Preparatory School (QPS), The VII Foundation and Al Hosh Gallery.
Deputy Director of Image and Narrative Practices of Qatar Preparatory School, Alanoud Al Buainain said: “Frame and Focus shows the learning outcomes achieved when photographers receive structured guidance and opportunities to cultivate their visual voice. Through instruction, critique, and experimentation, participants were challenged to think more critically and make images with greater clarity and purpose. The exhibition demonstrates how programmes like Frame and Focus can develop creative potential into a sustained photographic practice.”
The exhibition was co-curated by The VII Foundation and Abdulla Faisal Al Khalaf.
Director of The VII Foundation, Sarajevo, Ziyah Gafić said: “Frame and Focus affirms our belief that telling your own story is a human right—and that education in visual storytelling can be an act of resistance. At a time of turmoil and competing narratives, these artists bring rigor, empathy, and deeply personal perspectives to questions of belonging, memory, and resilience. Their work marks not only the culmination of a program, but an important step toward a sustainable photographic community in Qatar and the wider region.”
Abdulla Faisal Al Khalaf, said: “Each photographer in this year’s Frame and Focus brings a distinct visual language, shaped by personal experience and strengthened through the learning, experimentation, and creative exchange fostered by the Frame and Focus Photography course. Together, these individual perspectives form a rich and layered exploration of home, faith, family, memory, and belonging, alongside reflections on landscape, heritage, and community.”
Themes of home, migration, and identity also feature prominently through portraiture, documentary photography, and experimental visual storytelling, with several photographers considering how individuals and communities preserve heritage across generations, navigate displacement, and maintain connections to culture and place.
