MONIRA AL QADIRI
MONIRA AL QADIRI


2016, 42 Silkscreen prints, 70 x 50 cm each

Father of Pearl

42 almost invisible pearlescent silkscreen prints based on a painting the artist made from the only surviving photograph of her late grandfather. In the first half of the 20th century, he worked as a singer on a pearl diving boat in Kuwait, traveling around the Gulf and to Iran, India, and Africa. When seen from the eyes of today, this pre-oil world of sailing and pearl diving seems to reside in the realm of pure fiction, a detached and invisible world to the people of the region today, despite numerous efforts to revive it. This work describes the artist’s feeling towards this disappearing history, and her absolute inability to grasp or understand it.


2016, 42 Silkscreen prints, 70 x 50 cm each

Father of Pearl

42 almost invisible pearlescent silkscreen prints based on a painting the artist made from the only surviving photograph of her late grandfather. In the first half of the 20th century, he worked as a singer on a pearl diving boat in Kuwait, traveling around the Gulf and to Iran, India, and Africa. When seen from the eyes of today, this pre-oil world of sailing and pearl diving seems to reside in the realm of pure fiction, a detached and invisible world to the people of the region today, despite numerous efforts to revive it. This work describes the artist’s feeling towards this disappearing history, and her absolute inability to grasp or understand it.