From Left: Stephen A Kelly, Brigitte Lacombe, Marian Lacombe and Jean Paul Engelen at a press conference at Qatar Museum Authority Gallery at Katara yesterday. (Abdul Basit)
Doha: “Hey’Ya: Arab Women in Sport” — a photo and video exhibition celebrating female athletes from the Arab world — opened at Katara on Thursday.
The exhibition was inaugurated under the patronage of H E Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad Al Thani, Qatar Museums Authority (QMA) Chairperson.
Sponsored by Occidental Petroleum of Qatar Ltd (Oxy), the exhibition by renowned photographer Brigitte Lacombe and documentary film-maker Marian Lacombe, reflects the energy and enthusiasm of Arab women in sports.
The exhibition features a series of large-scale photographs by Brigitte of more than 60 Arab sportswomen, Olympic competitors and non-Olympians, from 20 different Arab countries, shown alongside videos by her sister, Marian.
By situating the images within the athletes’ personal histories, the aims to show the modern, engaged face of Arab women, and initiate a wider – often unspoken – discourse on gender and sport in the Arab world.
“It is an honour to have the Hey’Ya exhibition in at QMA gallery in Katara,” said Jean Paul Engelen, Director of Public Art at QMA at the opening.
“Brigitte and Marian Lacombe have created a very special project for Qatar that definitely is worth seeing. We hope that the exhibition will be as successful as it was in London during the Olympics.”
Stephen A Kelly, President and General Manager of Oxy Qatar commented on the occasion: “The Hey’Ya exhibition exemplifies this commitment by encouraging a positive and active interest in sport – particularly among young Arab women.”
Featured in this exhibition are 31 Qatari girls from different sport activities ranging from shooting to swimming and equestrian. One of these young athletes is 14-year-old Maryam Al Boinin who learned equestrian from her sister Mai.
In one of the videos, Maryam highlights the continuously increasing participation of women in sports, saying: “When my sister started riding, girls didn’t have clubs or the chance to participate in sports. Now Qatar is different than before and there are lots of opportunities for girls to ride. What boys can do, girls can do.”
The exhibition was conceived by the QMA and combines the organisation’s long-standing commitment to commissioning and showing the work of internationally renowned artists with the wider goal of Qatar to spark debate about sport, promote peace, and build a better society through sport activities. In line with Qatar’s National Vision 2030, the exhibition encourages girls and women of all ages to engage in a range of sporting activities, whether to compete and win, or to lead and maintain a healthy and active lifestyle.
The project, shot over a period of seven months, began in December 2011 in the Athletes Village at the Arab Games in Doha, where Brigitte and Marian set up their own outdoor studio, working side by side. Afterwards they travelled on to the Gulf and North Africa, working with female athletes of all ages and levels of achievement. With the support of Qatar’s Aspire programme, they also worked with the talented younger generation of sporting hopefuls.
Sotheby’s Gallery in London hosted the “Hey’Ya: Arab Women in Sport” exhibition between July 25 and August 11, 2012. It was organised in conjunction with the 2012 Olympics Games, stressing the growing opportunities given to Arab female athletes to participate in sport activities and international competitions.
Encouraging the participation of local groups dedicated to female activities or female sport activities, QMA is offering the exhibition’s venue, the QMA Gallery, for free to organizations and federations to hold their own workshops, events, and seminars on women and sport. For scheduling and more information, contact qmagallery@qma.org.qa or 44081255.
The Peninsula
