Qatari artist Amna AlBaker’s (b. 1996) practice delves into the intricacies of hidden lives. Fuelled by a desire to express her experiences of being an Arab woman in a particular time and space, the self-taught multidisciplinary artist finds an experimental process involving photography, visual research and writing central to her way of working. Examining identity-related questions, AlBaker aims to characterise and portray the internal wilderness often navigated by women by drawing inspiration from her own internal world and our surrounding collective histories.
In her work, AlBaker is particularly interested in portraying dualities: the seen and unseen and the self and society. These explorations often translate into whimsical and quirky depictions of women, often filled with references to nature. While AlBaker examines the delicate time of coming of age, she also aims to depict the contrast and tension more generally between our internal worlds and personal histories in relation to our shared collective experiences. Often, the terrain of her native Qatar and the mythologies of the Arabian Peninsula become intriguing parallels between her internal world and women’s lived experiences. AlBaker’s multimedia installation exhibited at Noor Riyadh, Story of Land, Sea, and Stars (2023), exemplifies the artist’s interest in mythology and collective histories. Inspired by the origins of the Arabian Peninsula’s inhabitants and their connection to the local environment, AlBaker presented a meticulously hand-embroidered cape, produced in collaboration with Tamader AlSultan, and a painted astronomy map depicting the sky of the Arabian Peninsula, looking at these inhabitants’ relationship with the land, sea and stars.
AlBaker’s practice unfolds as an experimental one where photography, visual research and writing play an important role as devices of introspection and experimentation allowing her to draw inspiration from a personal narrative. These parallel negotiations allow AlBaker to portray her position as a young woman but also to articulate her inner world, often resulting in whimsical dreamscapes.
Holding a BSc in Communications from Northwestern University, AlBaker has exhibited her work in France, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. In 2022, she was commissioned to create several works for the Ned Doha Art Collection.
