Maryam Ahmed Alassiri

Biography

Maryam Ahmed Alassiri is a Qatari artist and sculptor, best known for her portraits in oil. Her paintings centre on graceful female figures, often in traditional dress and set against gold leaf, and explore female empowerment and Qatari identity. She also paints horses and falcons, and has turned to sculpture with a series of head figures.

Maryam was an Artist in Residence in the second residency programme at Fire Station in Doha (2016 to 2017), and is among the artists of Majaz: Contemporary Art in Qatar at Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art. She has exhibited in Doha, Algeria and Berlin, including the 5×5 exhibition at QM Gallery Katara, where she showed five female portraits titled Power, Confidence, Stability, Calm and Creativity.

Her work has been acquired for the Amir’s Palace, Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Qatar Museums, the Doha Metro, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Culture, as well as by private collectors in Qatar. She has illustrated the Qatar Wall Calendar, bookmarks for the Doha International Book Fair and a children’s book for Mathaf, and has served on the board of the Qatar Fine Arts Society.

Further reading
Fire Station Doha: Artist in Residence
Mathaf: Majaz, about the artists
FACT Qatar: An Ode to Qatar and Its Women

The Art

For Splendore Unique’s Themeless project, Maryam painted Soft Ferocious: a tiger’s face that gives way to the wings of a monarch butterfly.

“Some people have animal-like qualities, and we may find strength and ferocity within us, but to overcome its severity, we need to resemble another gentle being, and both of them unite and express us.”

The dial took eight days to complete. Maryam worked in acrylic and oil paint, then sealed the surface with a UV-cured finish.