Virginia Commonwealth University Alumni Hold Road to Mecca Exhibition

Three graduates of Virginia Commonwealth University College of Design in Qatar, a partner university of Qatar Foundation, show their artworks on the sidelines of the art exhibition "The Road to Mecca", which kicked off on Tuesday, June 28, and is being held at (Iwan Al Qassar) exhibition at St. Regis, and runs until September 10, 2022.

30 artists from 12 countries are participating in the exhibition - Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Syria, Iraq, Pakistan, Iran, Bangladesh, Sudan, Tunisia, and the United Kingdom.

The exhibition was organized and coordinated by curator Bashir Muhammad, along with Fahim Khan, a graduate of Graphic Design class of 2019, and a Master of Fine Arts in Design Class of 2022, and Osman Muhammad Khonji,

Recipient of a Master of Fine Arts in Design, Class of 2015, and Nouf Al-Nama, a graduate of the University in Interior Design, Class of 2022.

Fahim Khan shares his artwork titled "Less Water, More Holiness: Tools for Sustainable Ablution."

This artwork was part of Fahim's thesis for graduating this year with the Master of Fine Arts in Design, in which he says, "He feels a moral duty to use his talent as a designer to help Muslims follow the Sunnah of our Prophet because this is our goal as Muslims."

Virginia Commonwealth University indicated that visitors will be able to view eight other artworks by the university graduate, Othman Muhammad Khunji, as the artworks bore different titles: “No, except,” “Permanent endorsement,” “Read,” and “Religious Reference ”, and a three-part artwork entitled “Religious Vanity”, and “Mecca Al-Mukarramah ”, in which Othman used various media, such as 3D sculptures, and scanned prints to explore the relationship between man and his Creator, from his latest work “Read”, which is a sculpture 3D printed man sitting reading the Qur'an.

As for Nouf Al-Nima, she presented an artwork entitled "Tawaf", her work shows the circumambulation of people around the Kaaba, it is a ritual that Muslims perform when visiting Mecca for Hajj or Umrah.

Ewan Al-Qassar exhibition at St. Regis is an innovative and dynamic space that aims to engage the community and nurture creative people in Qatar to celebrate art and design in all its broad and multiple aspects. It is one of the many venues spread across Doha that regularly hosts the creative work of VCUarts Qatar graduates, in which faculty, staff, alumni, and students of the university participate.

It should be noted that VCUQatar is an affiliate of Virginia Commonwealth University, College of the Arts in Richmond, Virginia, USA.

It is a highly accredited college in art and design programs in the Middle East.

Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar was established in 1998 in partnership between Virginia Commonwealth University and Qatar Foundation.

Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar offers students from all over the world the opportunity to obtain a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Fashion Design, Graphic Design, Interior Design, Drawing and Printmaking and offers a Master of Fine Arts in Design Studies.