Doha: A new mural titled, 'Friends, Qatar and Cuba', has been unveiled at the Katara Cultural Village on Monday. Painted by the Cuban artist, Michele Lopez, the new mural can be found at Building 15 opposite of Al-Hikma Square.
The mural was inaugurated in the presence of General Manager of the Cultural Village Foundation Katara HE Dr. Khalid bin Ibrahim Al-Sulaiti and Cuban Ambassador to Qatar HE Oscar Leon Jones Eliza.
The mural also comes as part of the Katara project to adorn a number of buildings in the Cultural Village. Commenting on this, the General manager said: “The inauguration of the murals in Katara Cultural Village is a cultural project aiming to shed light on various cultural, heritage and artistic topics. As there are murals concerned with Qatari heritage and others that dealt with the issue of the environment, and all of them achieve Katara's message, which seeks to build bridges of communication between nations and make Katara a hub for creativity and innovators from all over the world”.
He also pointed out that the mural comes at the time of the final preparations for the launch of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.
The Cuban ambassador, for his part, reviewed the strong relations between the two countries, praising all the efforts made in this context and made it clear that this artwork symbolizes the friendship between the two nations, and this cooperation was preceded by many joint cultural projects.
The ambassador also said that “it is the first time for the artist to visit the Middle East and he wanted from this work to express the friendship between the two countries through the most important event of this year, the 2022 World Cup in Qatar”.
Since 2015, the artist, Michele Lopez, has devoted himself to painting the streets of Havana with huge realistic images of children as subject of murals, in which he excells.
To date, several artistic murals adorn the buildings in Katara made by Qatari and international artists. These include 'The Oryx Goes Forward' and 'Ocean in the Sky' by Argentinian artist Martin Ron; 'The Challenge' by the late Qatari artist Yousef Al-Sharif Al Sada; 'Qatari Features' by Qatari artist Jassem Zaini; the mural of the Iraqi artist Nehru Qader Rashid; and the two mural paintings of the late Qatari artist Wafaa Al-Hamad.
