Zayn Qahtani

Zayn Qahtani is a multidisciplinary artist. Her work sways between what is seen and what is felt, compiling a personal mythology along the way. Drawing on ancient cultures and nature’s diverse ecosystems, Zayn forms visual stories which seem to exist in the twilight zone - too distorted to be real, too familiar to be a dream.

Her current practise explores the concept of animism, the gift-giving of a living soul to inanimate objects. Seeing the act of creation and destruction as an alchemical ritual, Zayn often works with materials borne of reincarnated sources. Pigments from plants and minerals, recycled bioplastics and papers made of tree matter, weave together with spells of poetry and pain in an unorthodox dance, binding each object with a life of its own.

Zayn Qahtani, by Madeleine Pollard

When Zayn Qahtani was younger, she couldn’t decide whether she wanted to be an artist or an archeologist. Never one to settle, she turned this dilemma into a dance, integrating archeological thinking into her artistic practice. Spanning painting, drawing and sculpture, Zayn’s work is about the excavation of the imagination, of ancient cultures, and of her own emotions. Attuned to nature’s ecosystems, she works intimately with the earth itself, hand-making her own paints from plants and minerals and utilising recycled materials. Her style of visual storytelling is dynamic and multisensory; a process of delving deep before bringing things to light.

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  • Commission Zayn Qahtani - NED DOHA

Zayn Qahtani (b. 1997, Bahrain) is based between Manama, BH and London, UK. She recently completed The Drawing Intensive at the Royal Drawing School and holds a BA in Fashion Design from The Royal University of Women, BH (2019). Awards include the YSA ‘21 Selected Artist + Honorary Grant from ATHR Gallery, SA (2021).

Recent shows include Angels In Purgatory (VITRINE, London, UK), MENART Fair (HUNNA, Brussels, Belgium), Otherlands (Black White Gallery, London, UK), I Felt That (The Tub, London, UK), Summer Auction (Art On A Postcard, London, UK), Serendipity (MIA Art Collection, Dubai, UAE), Charta (Fortnight Institute, New York, USA), and Chorus (Arusha Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland).

Her work is held in public collections including Soho House, Dalloul Art Foundation and The Ned, and has been in publications such as Art Maze Magazine and Vogue Arabia.

→ Exhibition view, 'Chorus' at Arusha Gallery

CV

News

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  • (Edinburgh Art Festival) Plum Cloutman, Zayn Qahtani and Georg Wilson: Dreamer’s Eye

    (Edinburgh Art Festival) Plum Cloutman, Zayn Qa...

    Dreamer’s Eye brings together new work from emerging artists Plum Cloutman, Zayn Qahtani and Georg Wilson.  (...) Zayn Qahtani’s work draws on ancient cultures and nature’s diverse ecosystems often made using...

    (Edinburgh Art Festival) Plum Cloutman, Zayn Qa...

    Dreamer’s Eye brings together new work from emerging artists Plum Cloutman, Zayn Qahtani and Georg Wilson.  (...) Zayn Qahtani’s work draws on ancient cultures and nature’s diverse ecosystems often made using...

  • (Gulf Weekly) Seeing safer spaces

    (Gulf Weekly) Seeing safer spaces

    Artists from Bahrain and across the Middle East are drawing attention to the complex conversation around psychological wellbeing with their pieces in the region’s first virtual mental health art exhibition....

    (Gulf Weekly) Seeing safer spaces

    Artists from Bahrain and across the Middle East are drawing attention to the complex conversation around psychological wellbeing with their pieces in the region’s first virtual mental health art exhibition....

  • (FAD Magazine) TOP 5 EXHIBITIONS TO SEE IN LONDON BEFORE & OVER EASTER

    (FAD Magazine) TOP 5 EXHIBITIONS TO SEE IN LOND...

    (...) Zayn Qahtani: Angels in Purgatory @ VitrineZayn Qahtani takes on the myth of the Nephilim, angels cast out of heaven for immorality and who some believe still live among...

    (FAD Magazine) TOP 5 EXHIBITIONS TO SEE IN LOND...

    (...) Zayn Qahtani: Angels in Purgatory @ VitrineZayn Qahtani takes on the myth of the Nephilim, angels cast out of heaven for immorality and who some believe still live among...

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