Maryam Al Homaid: “I Grew Up in my Father’s Studio”

Maryam Al Homaid is an archetypal figure of a modern Qatari woman. She is creative and never far from her roots while showcasing her work and creativity. She is an interdisciplinary artist with a Bachelors in Fine Arts and Master’s in Design Studies from Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar (VCUarts Qatar). Currently, she serves as an Assistant Professor in the Graphic Design Department of VCUarts Qatar as she pursues her creative talent with passion. Her recent works draw inspiration from her experiences as a millennial in Qatar, where she has observed significant economic and social changes. By Sindhu Nair

Maryam Al Homaid is an independent woman, intimately bonded with her family, especially with her father, artist Yousef Ahmad Al Homaid who started the art movement in Qatar in the 70s. She is working in Qatar yet she is a woman seeking inspiration from every nook and corner of the world. She is the face of Qatar: modern, educated, humble, rooted, traditional, global in outlook and with boundless creativity.

To understand Maryam, one needs to understand the special bond she has with her father, Yousef Ahmad. Not the obvious bond of a father and daughter but that of a mentor and a mentee but most perceptibly that of a teacher and a student who respect each other’s works, of two artists who understand how different their medium of works are yet so undeniably important.

Being the daughter of Yousef Ahmad Al Homiad, one of the pioneers of the art movement in Qatar, could have been a lot of pressure of expectations, but for Maryam, it was a blessing.

“I grew up in my father’s studio, I was a constant in the corner of his studio,” she says fondly of her childhood spent in art studios with the smell of paint and paper in the air, “I have always been in the midst of his canvases, his tools and his thoughts and opinion.”

Her childhood was spent engulfed in art and father’s love, being the only one among her siblings who was drawn to art, which might be the reason why she was also the one who had a special bond with her father.

“We have conversations for hours about work, my work here at VCUarts Qatar, about my travel and my creative works and also on what he is working on,” she says.

Yousef Ahmad is an artist who was known for his creativity not just on canvas but also on developing his own medium of paper from the most available material in the Middle East, the palm tree. “Wherever we travelled, he would be collecting paper from Japan, other parts of Asia, or from Turkey and finally he said that it is time that we had our own paper from available natural resource. He then started experimenting. He finally arrived at a coarse material which was refined to a smoother version of  paper.”

Maryam takes pride in the special relationship that she has with her father, and connects it to their similar upbringing in an atmosphere that was never lacking in love.

“He had a similar story like mine; his father was a carpenter and a fisherman. He later worked in a petrol company and he used to get notebooks from this ompanyc which my grandfather gave to my father and the notebook fascinated my father so much. He used to keep them safe, just to admire the quality of paper. He used to be amazed by the printing,” she narrates.

“My father used charcoal from his mother’s cooking pot to draw on the walls of the house, but being the youngest son in the family, he was not scolded for this act of naughtiness. He had a similar childhood like mine; we were both pampered by our parents,” she laughs.

“I had a much more privileged life, of course, compared to his, because in his childhood, life was not so easy in Qatar, with no electricity or comforts that we have now. We had different environments but very similar childhoods,” she remembers fondly.

First Love

When she was young, Maryam had not given much thought about her career.

“After my high school, reality hit me. I was not sure of what next to do in life,” she says, “I went in for the Academic Bridge Program to learn English and there I was introduced to Qatar Foundation and all the educational institutions within it. I was overwhelmed by the choices. I decided at that instance that I wanted to study Computer Science.”

Her father, Yousef Ahmad was one of the board members of VCUarts Qatar who broght VCUArts to Qatar Foundation. He tried to convince his artistic daughter to find courses that would put her creativity to use, but Maryam was fixed on the idea of being a computer scientist from Carnegie Mellon.

But it seemed as if Maryam was not meant to go to Carnegie, as her SAT scores were not high enough, though she was accepted into VCUarts Qatar. “Thank God for that,” she laughs.

“My first studio professor Kipp Greene was very encouraging and that was the game changer. I started loving the studio works and assignments. I realised then that this is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I felt I belonged here,” she says.

“It was 2006, no one had heard about Graphic Design yet with Kipp Greene’s encouragement I took that as my subject and now 14 years later, my association with VCUarts Qatar has grown roots. He had suggested that I should follow academia and at that time that was not an option I had ever considered. I was the first local faculty hire within Qatar Foundation,” she says.

While she was one of the first local hires, her entry back to her alumni was also seen as a harbinger which encouraged many more locals to come back to work within their alumni. Many have joined VCU arts Qatar as Adjunct faculty and the numbers have multiplied since then.

Back to Design

Maryam was sad to leave the creative haven of VCUarts Qatar after her course was complete.

“I did not want to leave VCUarts Qatar, I wanted to be in this campus that encouraged creativity but I had to leave as my course ended. I joined Rasgas, an oil and gas local organisation in their Public Affairs team to design collaterals and that gave me a taste of the corporate world. I did enjoy my stint in the corporate world too, it opened my mind to the world outside art.”

Two years later, in 2012, after a few years since VCUarts Qatar started their Masters programme in Design, Maryam  joined the programme that changed her perspective and approach to design.

“When I did Graphic design, our curriculum was more focused on traditional graphic designs, which worked well, but when I did MFA, it opened my eyes to the multiple mediums, other platforms that I can play with, as well as expanding on my research and concepts, and the fabrication lab opened up barriers in the design process. We could literally 3D print anything out of nothing. The programme opened my world to a whole range of possibilities and made me think outside the box to arrive at design solutions,” she says.

Soon after her Masters, Maryam joined VCUarts as the Junior Faculty, being guided by the Senior Faculty, “It was a knowledge-sharing orientation which guided us into the world of pedagogy. The paper works involved, the researches you have to be part of, working your way through the curriculum and how it can help the students grow and also how it will help students to engage with the community,” she says.

The Art that Found Maryam

Maryam’s recent body of work draws inspiration from her experiences as a millennial in Qatar, where she has observed significant economic and social changes. These transformations in lifestyles, language, behaviours, technology, and architecture have greatly influenced her artistic approach. Maryam’s particular creative process was discovered during her time at VCUarts Qatar and we ask her about her inspiration.

“Levi Hammett was my professor at VCUarts Qatar. I showed him my pixel art, work that that I used to dabble in outside class. I used to draw buildings, of computers, of small people and I used to animate that. I used to put them on a platform called Deviant Art and Levi was greatly impressed with my work and he suggested that we should do something around this. At that point in time, in 2008, Levi was looking into the patterns of cities. This was the time when there was a lot of demolition happening around in Doha and construction was also at its peak. Levi was interested in documenting the patterns of the city and he added me into this research program,” explains Maryam.

From Levi’s project to various cultural observations in graphics on carpet, Maryam has participated in so many design expositions and been recognised as a designer par excellence for her visionary work.

Architecture is in Focus

Maryam’s work celebrates the evolution of memories over time. She designs her artwork digitally in a way that complements traditional carpet-making techniques, creating a unique aesthetic that is informed by the craft’s graphic elements. It is also important to note the impact of architecture on Maryam’s work. This could perhaps be related to the country’s own architectural awakening from which Maryam took inspiration from or it could be the shapes that made it easier to be emulated in graphics.

One of her earlier works called Qatar Cities is a fine example of the influence of architecture in Maryam’s work. This textile intricately captures the diverse cities of Qatar, notably highlighting the capital, Doha, with its distinctive monuments. Each city depicted represents a unique facet of Qatar’s identity, mirroring its multifaceted nature. Some cities are dedicated to liquefied natural gas (LNG) production, symbolising the nation’s economic prowess, while others embody a more community-centric ethos. The artwork, with its vibrant portrayal of cityscapes and monuments, becomes a visual narrative, showcasing the dynamic blend of industrial progress and communal life within Qatar.

Maryam’s creative process involves a deep exploration of traditional carpet making techniques and patterns, which she then synthesises with her own contemporary graphics. She studies the traditional graphics of the layout and carpet format, whether it’s stacking, mirroring, or free hand style, and uses that as a foundation for her designs. Her goal is to create a unique aesthetic that documents the changes in the region and celebrates its transformation throughout the year as well as bring in the attention to these different topics to start a conversation with the audience.

During FIFA World Cup 2022, Maryam designed a set of tapestries to be showcased in MATHAF (Arab Museum of Modern Art). The rugs are adorned with a contemporary Arabic typography that spells out the names of all the stadiums where the tournament was held. In addition, the rugs feature a minimalist light bulb design, which is a common decorative element in Qatari culture, often used during celebrations and special occasions.

Another favourite of ours is the one that was commissioned by the Ned Doha, called The Ned or Doha Re-Modernism. This handwoven horizontal visual scroll celebrates the unique building previously owned by Ministry of Interior. The woven scroll contains a series of coordinate numbers that is uniquely assigned for the building.

“Neutral, black and neon green are the colours indicated within this handwoven artwork to revive this modern structure in a contemporary representation,” explains Maryam.

By digitally designing her artwork, Maryam is able to control the graphics in a way that complements the traditional making of carpets, allowing her to create a truly innovative and captivating body of work

Maryam and her Wide Range of Work

This year Designeast, a platform advocating for and promoting artists, designers, craftspeople and creatives from the Middle East, India, Africa, South East Asia and South America, had a unique collaboration with Jaipur Rugs to celebrate the spirit of creative democracy.

Rue Kothari, Founder and Creative Director of Designeast selected five artists and designers from the Middle East to collaborate with five weavers that were handpicked by Jaipur Rugs to co-create five distinctive textile artworks which was showcased at Art Week Dubai.

Based on the idea, each artist was paired with a weaver from Aaspura, a village in the Aravalli Hills in Jaipur, just one of hundreds of craft clusters in India that owe their growing prosperity to the success of their partnership with Jaipur Rugs. Then in February 2024, the designers travelled to the village to meet their artisanal counterparts: Studio Bazazo with Sushila, Maryam with Neha, Noura with Dahfli, Adrian with Priyanka and Reem with Pooja.

What transpired was a real connection between artist and artisan, the culmination of two disparate lives joined together in one art piece. What the artist had imagined in the Middle East then interpreted by the perception of the weaver.

“This was the most wonderful collaboration which truly showed me the craft of carpet weaving, up, close and personal. I came to understand the process of weaving to the community of diminishing carpet weavers, their family and the social impact of this handwoven craft. I understood the legacy behind a brand called Jaipur Rugs and the effort it took to keep alive the community of weavers by standards that have to be highlighted for its fairness. We had deep bonds with the weaving ladies and loved the interactive sessions that we had with them. It opened my eyes to cultures and traditions that are different,” she says.

The collection was inspired by the theme What I believed / What I know now, that gave the artists the space to explore how they have been changed by a revolutionary thought, idea or event in their lives. The pieces that have resulted from this are a true reflection of each artist’s personal experiences with nature, emotion, identity and sanctuary.

Awards and More

One recent accolade for Maryam, is the AlUla Design Award for her submission, “Weaving Wanderings.”

“It was a camel covering, the Jilal inspired by the ancient civilisations of the Nabataeans, Lihyanites, and Dedanites, who shaped #AlUla today. The idea of the Jilal is to use it as a walking educational tool, informing us about the dates and the contributions of these civilisations as the camel walks through AlUla’s landscape,” says Maryam about her winning work.

Her textile series, Change is the only constant, has also been long-listed for Dezeen Textile Design Awards while her work has also been nominated for the 2024 Isola design awards. Her work titled Qatar University has been selected for the Isola awards.

Her recent work S/HE was also exhibited at Milan Design Week at Routes to Roots, Isola Design Festival.

The awards and the accolades seem to be raining down on this happy person who loves time with her students and colleagues at VCUarts Qatar, an ideal setting that ignites creativity, learning. Like her father Yousef Ahmad nurtured his favourite child within the walls of his studio, Maryam seems to be following his footsteps, but this time, the world is her canvas.

In a conversation between father and daughter, for a VCUarts Qatar recording, Yousef Ahmad says, “I liked to cultivate the love of art inside you and to let you follow the same path that I took.”

Maryam continues the conversation, “I like to cultivate the love of arts in my students. I want them to think out of the box and come up with new ways to express their art.”

And her father replies with the wisdom of age and experience, “Give them freedom, and they will give you what you will not expect. Give them guidelines but also the freedom to create.”

“Art is freedom,” agrees Maryam.

All Images Courtesy Maryam Al Homaid.