DOHA -
The exhibition "Dialogue on Paper... The Legacy of the Qatar-Japan Cultural Year" was opened in Tokyo on Friday and was organized through the Cultural Years Program to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Qatar and Japan.
The opening was attended by the representative of the Qatari Embassy in Japan, Hamad Nasser Hamad Khalid Al Thani.
The exhibition includes 28 pieces by prominent Qatari artist Youssef Ahmed and Japanese artist Hayaki Nishigaki, and opened its doors to the public at the famous art center 3331 Arts Chiyoda in Tokyo from June 10, 2022 and continues until the end of the same month.
It is noteworthy that the Chairperson of Qatar Museums Board of Trustees, Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, established the Cultural Years Initiative in 2012 to promote mutual understanding and appreciation between Doha and the countries of the world.
Since then, the Years of Culture initiative has achieved tangible success in partnership with the United Kingdom, Brazil, Germany, Turkey, India, France and other countries over the past decade.
Exhibition "Dialogue on Paper" (Al Jazeera)
The exhibition was inaugurated by Dr. Aisha Al-Misnad, Acting Deputy Director of Museum Affairs at the Arab Museum of Modern Art and curator, commenting, "Dialogue on paper is a distinguished exhibition that coincides with the tenth anniversary of the establishment of the Cultural Years Initiative in Qatar and celebrates the 50th anniversary of strong relations between Qatar and Japan."
Al-Misnad added, "Indeed, Japan was the partner country in the first year of culture, and we are honored today to display these amazing pieces that express the enduring artistic cooperation resulting from cultural exchange between the two countries. At Qatar Museums, we believe that when cultures are linked, we create beautiful things. This cooperation is a true embodiment of these sentiments."
"Dialogue on Paper" embodies a distinguished artistic collaboration between artists Ahmed and Nishigaki.
The Japanese Hayaki Nishigaki and the Qatari Youssef Ahmed embodied in the exhibition a distinguished artistic cooperation (Al-Jazeera)
The exhibition highlights the similarities between the cultural practices of paper-making and calligraphy in Japan and Qatar.
Ahmed and Nishigaki mix together Japanese washi dough - a rich historical symbol of this country's culture - with dough made from the fronds of Qatari palm trees, which are considered blessed trees in Arab and Islamic culture.
The result was a new hybrid paper that served as a literal medium, simultaneously representing the fusion of two different environments and cultures.
Each artist has then applied his own interpretation of calligraphy to paper to create a unique visual language that explores the differences and similarities between cultural traditions.
Art pieces in the exhibition "Dialogue on Paper" (Al-Jazeera)
One of the iconic pieces embodies the beauty that intercultural communication produces.
The Qatari artist chose for her the noble verse “And We made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another” (Surat Al-Hujurat, verse 13), which expresses the importance of good relations between different peoples.
The Quranic verse appears in the form of a circular sentence amid the artwork, as Nishigaki decorated the space in his own artistic style.
Coincidentally, the artwork corresponded to the Arabic calligraphy style called "Al Diwani Al Jali".
Ahmed practiced this type of Arabic calligraphy for the first time in 1970, which dated the beginning of relations between Doha and Tokyo.