Stal Gallery presented the third edition of its Annual Young Emerging Artist Prize last Tuesday, January 9, 2018 under the auspices of Her Highness Sayyida Hafidha bint Mahmood al Said. The exhibition featured Omani artists: Ayah Yousuf, Maher Abdulwahab, Nabaa Baqir, Tariq al Hajri, Fatma Abdulaziz, Mazin al Harthi, Muzn Meer, Mahmood Harib, Alaa al Dhiyabi, Mahmood Noah, and Umayma al Hinai.
In continuation to uphold its dedication to support and motivate the young Omani artists, Stal Gallery was thrilled to be in the forefront of this initiative. Through the Young Emerging Artist programme, which started with an open call and a careful selection of candidates, the artists have had the opportunity to be mentored under gallery’s Circle of Experimental Art.
The exhibition featured a wide variety of artwork that tackled issues on politics, society, and religion through the eyes of forthcoming generation of young Omani artists. At the award ceremony, the artist Fatima al Awadhi heralded the Grand Prize Winner, which was named Raya al Rawahi’s Prize for art, after the artist Raya who had passed away last month. The Prizes for the Best Concept went to Maher al Balushi, Best Presentation for Nabaa Baqir, and the Best Use of Materials award went for Mahmood Harib.
In her two-piece installation, Fatma showcases a decade of mentalities that are wide-spread in our society. People have been using religion to diffuse fear. The lectures that were used to make the remixes were made to intimidate people rather than to help them heal spiritually.
Mahmood Noah features stages of possession in which he describes “stages of possession is the un-told story of a girl who has had an indelible experience in the recent past. It describes the ordeal of Kamla’s story, although public now and censored to an extent, is a taboo tale of a collection of things we don’t generally speak of so openly in our society”.
Curator and Stal Gallery’s Artistic Director, Hassan al Meer, says about the programme, “It is an opportunity for both established and emerging artists to engage in the thought process and the conceptualisation of new ideas towards effectively communicating the concepts presented therein both aesthetically and philosophically... which provide enlightenment and deeper understanding of the world that we live in.”
Mai al Abria
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