Naomi Campbell (fourth left) with other artistes at the event.
Leading fashion icon Naomi Campbell launched on Monday her latest initiative ‘EMERGE’ at Katara Cultural Village with EMERGE/Art and Fashion Exhibition in collaboration with Qatar Creates.
The exhibition is aimed to spread awareness and give the next generation of creative talent from developing regions a platform of support and a wider audience for their work. It celebrates the work of artistes from Africa and the diaspora.
The works on view at Katara Building 1 span across paintings, sculpture, ceramics, textiles, photography, and design.
The supermodel hosted a star-studded event and was joined by notable fashion and creative names: model Chanel Ayan, Vogue Arabia and Vogue Man Editor-in-Chief Manuel Arnuat, British fashion designer Ozwald Botang, Vogue Thailand Contributing Editor Nichapat Suphap, and luxury real-estate developer Mohamed Hadid. Olympic Champion and Qatar’s very own Mutaz Essa Barshim was also spotted at the event.
The exhibition brought together 27 contemporary creators and seven recognised and rewarded fashion designers. Among them were Kehinde Wiley, Delphine Diallo, Patrick Alston, Vania Leles, Victor Ehikhamenor, Larry Ossei-Mensah, Thebe Magugu, Abdel El Tayeb, Bianca Saunders, Artsi Ifrach, Lamine Badian Kouyaté, Nikki Nkwo Onwuka and Kenneth Ize.
To run until December 20 , it was curated by Nigerian-British curator, art historian, and writer Aindrea Emelife. During the exhibition, Emelife told reporters that it explores “different narratives between African art and the diaspora,” and the artistes represent portrayals on “Blackhood, Black personhood, storytelling, [and] been very much inspired by African literature”.
“When you look at the exhibition you will understand that Black Art is not a monolith and there’s many different narratives that are examples of Black Art.”
She explained that the main message of the exhibition is to look deeper on the Black art, excavate and understand the history that led to it. “I would like to encourage people to look further into the history and understand that this is not just a moment or a movement, but something that has always been there, and these artistes are encouraging us to look back so that we can look forward.”
The ‘EMERGE’ initiative seeks to find alternative educational routes for young creative and business talents from Africa, the diaspora and developing communities around the world.
The exhibition serves as a prelude to Friday's EMERGE Charity Auction in partnership with Sotheby’s. The curated artworks will be put up for sale as part of the campaign to generate money for educational and artistic organisations all over the world.
