Qatar Museums has launched the 2025 edition of the Tasweer Photo Festival Qatar which explores themes of belonging through eight exhibitions in five locations.

Anchored by the lead exhibition As I Lay Between Two Seas at the Fire Station: Artist in Residence, the exhibitions were unveiled by Her Excellency Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Chairperson of Qatar Museums.

This edition, with all shows running until June 20, showcases the work of more than 88 artists from the Arab world and its diasporas. Joining As I Lay Between Two Seas are the exhibitions Daoud Aoulad Syad, Territories of the Instant; Obliteration – Surviving the Inferno: Gaza’s Battle for Existence; Refractions: Tasweer Project Awards; Threads of Light: Stories from the Tasweer Single Image Awards; Al-Mihrab, presenting Khalid Al-Al-Musallamany’s visual conversation about places of worship in Qatar; After The Game, highlighting photographers’ and filmmakers’ engagement with the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022; and Garangao 2025, featuring photographs submitted through an open call celebrating the power of photography in capturing a cherished tradition.

As I Lay Between Two Seas offers a poetic exploration of belonging, identity and home. Featuring works by 25 artists from the Arab world and its diasporas, the display examines these themes not as fixed states but as ongoing productions informed by ruptures, fragments and spectral traces. The exhibition is curated by Meriem Berrada.

Al-Mihrab presents a visual conversation about places of worship in Qatar through the lens of artist Khalid AlMusallamany. Capturing mosques in both black and white and colour, old and new, the exhibition highlights the photographer’s unique architectural perspective as he documents Qatar’s religious spaces. Curated by Khalifa Al Obaidly, the exhibition is on view at the Fire Station: Gallery 3.

After The Game highlights the engagement of photographers and filmmakers with the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, showcasing diverse artistic perspectives that reflect each creator’s unique vision and emotional response to the unfolding events – both inside the stadium and beyond, among fans, around the clock and across every corner of Qatar. It’s at the Fire Station: Gallery 4.

Garangao 2025, invited photographers to submit their images which will be on view at the Fire Station (Barahat).

Daoud Aoulad-Syad, Territories of the Instant, curated by Meriem Berrada, celebrates over three decades of work by Moroccan photographer and filmmaker Daoud AouladSyad. Deeply intertwined with his cinematic vision and with Moroccan popular culture, his photography captures the soul of his homeland, particularly its most remote regions. The exhibition is on view at Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art.

Obliteration – Surviving the Inferno: Gaza’s Battle for Existence, curated by Dr. Bahaaeldin Abudaya, unfolds in five stages to capture various phases of the devastating war in Gaza. Tracing the conflict’s escalation over the past year, each stage serves as a powerful visual document of the unfolding tragedy, contextualised by texts that provide background on the ongoing genocide. The exhibition is on view in an outdoor venue at Katara Cultural Village. Tasweer also presents two awards exhibitions curated by Sheikha Maryam Hassan Al-Thani:

Refractions: Tasweer Project Awards brings together 18 contemporary Arab photographers, winners from 2023 and 2024.Located in two interconnected buildings (45 and 46) at Katara Cultural Village, the exhibition explores the idea of belonging.

The second award exhibition, Threads of Light: Stories from the Tasweer Single Image Awards, showcases 32 winning photographs from 2023 and 2024. The exhibition highlights photographers from 12 countries across the Arab world and beyond and is on view at The Company House, Msheireb. ✤

GO: VISIT TASWEER.ORG.QA FOR A FULL PROGRAMME OF EVENTS.