The Gallery at VCUarts Qatar Holds Exhibition on Streetwear

VCUarts Qatar is conducting a first-of-its-kind exhibition on a clothing style that has acquired a steady base of followers in almost every country on the planet – streetwear. Titled ‘Wear The Right Thing’, the exhibition is open to the public until October 23, at The Gallery at VCUarts Qatar in Education City.

Visitors to the exhibition will be able to view designs by famous streetwear designers including the luxury fashion chain Balenciaga, as well as items contributed by private collectors from around the world. ‘Wear The Right Thing’ also has photographs and videos by world-renowned streetwear photographers and documentarians such as Jamel Shabazz from the US, and Mohamed Bourouissa and Sara Sadik from France, on display. It is the first time that the works of the three photographers are being simultaneously exhibited at one venue.

The exhibition will be open from 9 am to 5 pm each day from Sunday to Thursday, and 10 am to 4 pm on Saturdays. Visitors are requested to follow all Ministry of Public Health regulations related to safety and health. Further information and details related to ‘Wear The Right Thing’ can be found on The Gallery at VCUarts Qatar’s new website https://gallery.qatar.vcu.edu/    

“‘Wear The Right Thing’ offers streetwear fans in Qatar an opportunity to view designs from luxury brands, as well as those contributed by private individuals,” Isabelle St. Louis, Manager of Exhibitions and Lectures at VCUarts Qatar said as she explained the concept of the exhibition. “The exhibition also captures streetwear’s quest for identity. For instance, the streetwear photographs by Jamal Shabazz, Mohamed Bourouissa and Sara Sadik embrace the humbler attitude and vulnerability that we all have in front of a lens, and in certain moments of our lives.”

And she added, “Not many people know that Jamel Shabazz, considered to be the pioneer of street photography, influenced other artists including Mohamed Bourouissa. Today, Bourouissa mentors a new generation of artists in France, including Sara Sadik. For the first time, the works of the three artists – linked together by a creative legacy – are uniting in one venue.”

The allure of streetwear lies in its universality. Irrespective of gender, age or social standing, streetwear – the collective name commonly used to refer to clothing and accessories such as jeans, hoodies, t-shirts, sneakers and caps – is popular among celebrities and the general public alike for the level of comfort and functionality it provides the wearer.

Streetwear has also evolved to be a popular symbol of youth culture due to its association with music styles such as Hip Hop and Rap, sports such as surfing, skateboarding and basketball, and as the preferred style of office wear for most Silicon Valley IT employees. The fashion style has also come to be linked to university life, with most institutes of higher education using their branding across streetwear items such as hoodies, caps, sneakers, scarves and t-shirts.

Street photography played a very important role in documenting the new trends in streetwear. The visual works of Shabazz, Bourouissa and Sadik capture this universal appeal of streetwear from different parts of the globe. With multiple successful publications to his name, Shabazz’s work has been acquired by leading institutions such as the Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York, the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, and the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington D.C. Currently, Shabazz is represented by the Galerie Bene Taschen in Germany.

Bourouissa’s work has been exhibited in numerous solo exhibitions, at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, the Centre Pompidou de Paris, the Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia, the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, the base in Frankfurt am Main, the Ball, Paris, the Haus der Kunst, Munich and the FRAC Franche-Comté in Besançon. The Marcel Duchamp Prize nominee was also selected for the Prix Pictet photography prize. His works belong to leading collections, including that of the LACMA in Los Angeles, the Centre Pompidou, and the Maison européenne de la photographie in Paris, and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.

Sadik completed her MFA from Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux, France. Her work has been shown internationally at Frac PACA in Marseille, Palais de Tokyo in Paris, Karma International in Zurich, Art Athina Fair in Athens, and MoMA Warsaw for Open’er Festival in Gdynia.

The exhibition is curated by Julie Boukobza and Ali Khan. Boukobza is a curator and art critic based in Paris and Arles, in charge of the LUMA Arles Residency Program. She has curated and co-curated shows and exhibitions in Paris, Milan and Belgrade to name a few. From 2013 until 2017, she was involved in co-running the 89plus Residency Program at the lab of the Google Cultural Institute in Paris. In 2018-19 she founded an artist-run space in Paris with the curator Stéphanie Moisdon and the artist Matthew Lutz-Kinoy.

Khan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Fashion Design at VCUarts Qatar. He is a Luxury and Fashion Consultant whose diverse experience includes design, forecasting, merchandising, retail and academics, uniquely encompassing a mix of high-end luxury and street fashion. Aside from VCUarts Qatar, his academic affiliations include such prestigious schools as HEC Paris, the Royal College of Art, London, and FIT New York. Khan’s award-winning works have been showcased consistently in New York and London, and are part of the permanent collection at the Museum of Art in Nelson, New Zealand.

The Gallery at VCUarts Qatar worked with the French Embassy in Doha to organize this exhibition.

Photographs by Raviv Cohen.