![\"\"](\"https:\/\/preproductiondemo.com\/villa88\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Bouthayna-Al-Muftah-2_v1-768x1024.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nSince I pursued art professionally, I\u2019ve developed a distinct style and process to approach the concepts I work on. My creative vocabulary has evolved, especially in how I combine different media and techniques whilst maintaining the raw essence of my work. I don\u2019t try to embellish what comes out naturally \u2013 spontaneity, gestural strokes and freeflowing ink are recurring elements in my work, paying homage to authentic self-expression. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gradually, I\u2019ve been inspired by cultural history and immortalizing my land\u2019s forgotten traditions. In my early 20s, I began to realize that there was a gap between me and my own motherland, which drove me to develop an emotional attachment to my country\u2019s way of life, and meditate on the relationship between past and present. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As I began this exploratory process, I was surprised to learn how much I didn\u2019t know about my own surroundings. Being a regional artist has helped me build a stronger connection with my local environment and community, and investigate my identity in relation to the rest of the Middle East and the world. I\u2019m grateful for my country\u2019s cultural and creative infrastructure that help me express myself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I often find myself drawn to architecture, objects, stories and words that form the basis of my conceptual bodies of work. The recurring concept of memory in my work aims at archiving cultural history, referencing recollections narrated by other generations that I\u2019ve witnessed over the years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Beauty lies in the process of creating an image in my own imagination of the memory that\u2019s shared with me. I enjoy experimenting using different methods of translation and interpretation to deconstruct and reconstruct these moments, and present them in a surrealist, dreamlike window to a time and place that are open to interpretation. Beyond recording and communicating memories, my practice touches upon my personal experiences, as well as collective memories that transcend the region. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ve translated these inspirations through my monochrome lens, as I\u2019ve always been drawn towards black and white. This inclination emerged in middle school when I began learning about Chinese ink painting and calligraphy \u2014 the simple act of writing using a pen was cathartic for me, and marked the beginning of my sketchbook journaling and documentation process. I loved writing with ink in a world that favored typing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This appreciation for monochromes ultimately expanded into black-and-white photography. Developing the photographs in a dark room is a deeply therapeutic and meditative process for me \u2014 working there is akin to using ink and pen, and seeing things form and develop much before the final result is a large part of my research and practice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In a globalized world that\u2019s fueled by social media and other connectivity tools, I can say that I\u2019m an artist from the region but with a message that has been seen, heard and resonates with the international community. Everything I\u2019ve learnt and gained has aided me in shaping the work that I share today, and allowed me to express myself in different ways. My creative journey is an evolutionary process that\u2019s defined by places, people and time that haven\u2019t been frequented by our minds. This is just the beginning.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Bouthayna is represented by EMERGEAST gallery and her art is available on Emergeast.com\/artists\/bouthayna-al-muftah. Follow @Emergeast and @B_almuftah on Instagram<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Bouthayna Al Muftah is a Qatari visual artist, who received…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[27,28,29],"class_list":["post-24651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-things-to-do-ajman","tag-black-and-white-art","tag-bouthayna-al-muftah","tag-qatari-artist"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/preproductiondemo.com\/villa88\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/image00006_v1-1024x1024.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/preproductiondemo.com\/villa88\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Poetry-series-Ink-on-paper-80x56cm-2021-emergeast.com_-755x1024.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/preproductiondemo.com\/villa88\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Bouthayna-Al-Muftah-1-1-768x1024.jpg\")