ult.society - Courage cast in art | In the Studio with Fatma Al Shebani

Qatari artist Fatma Al Shebani has long thought of herself as a “woman of anxiety and paper”, with an insatiable hunger for color, beauty, and an understanding of the world around her. Somewhere along that quest, that restless curiosity found a rebellious streak, leading her towards sculpture, a medium few women artists in the GCC were practicing at the time. The foundations of that path were laid much earlier. As a child, Al Shebani accompanied her father to his cement and brick factory, watching materials being shaped, welded, and transformed. Years later, that familiarity with the physical act of making would find expression in monumental works such as Al-Aadiyat, a procession of nine bronze horses inspired by the Quranic imagery of strength and movement. In conversation with ult., Al Shebani reflects on the onus she owns towards Qatar's cultural heritage, from the communal traditions reimagined in Daqq Al-Hubb to the importance of creating a lasting artistic legacy. She speaks candidly about the challenges of establishing herself when Qatar's cultural infrastructure was still developing, and the instinct, ambition and timing that helped bring her work into public view.