People having a good time at the Keep it Green Family Day event at MIA Park yesterday. RIGHT: Mother & child painting by Nasr. PICTURES: Jayan Orma

By Salman Siddiqui/Staff Reporter


People from all walks of life had a great time at the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) Park yesterday, where the Qatar Museums Authority (QMA) had organised the Keep it Green Family Day.
A large number of stalls showcasing unique products from the world over grabbed the attention of many families and tourists at the event.
One stall that stood out was that of Egyptian artist Eman Nasr, who was displaying her beautiful abstract artwork in a corner. She had many intriguing art pieces in her collection that ranged between QR100 and QR300.
“I started art as a hobby, but now it’s my full-time profession. A lot of people have expressed their interest in my collection today and I’m quite happy with the response so far,” Nasr said.
Yemeni artist Fawaz al-Kumaim, who works at Awqaf, displayed a collection of his Kufic Islamic script art at another stall nearby. He had an interesting collection of the Islamic verses in the Kufic script. “I learnt this art form as a child. Earlier, I used to make these patterns using only a paper and ink, but now I do it with the help of Photoshop. Apart from Islamic verses, people usually like to take a copy of their names in this script,” he said.
Marcin Kozusznik, a Polish national, displayed his impressive collection of meteorites. People were quite intrigued with the meteorites, especially the ones he found in Qatar. “More than making money, I’m here to spread awareness about meteorites and I’m glad people asked a lot of questions about them,” he said.
Many of the women in the crowd thronged the jewellery stalls, where a wide variety of artificial and gold-plated collection was available. Leva Simkiene from Lithuania was offering a special price on her doughnut-shaped and “walnut” pendants on behalf of a company. “Girls look at me wearing a doughnut pendant and ask ‘where can I get that?’. So I set up a stall here,” she said.
A number of activities were organised for children at the event, including planting a Sidra seed in a recycled pot, creating imaginative animal costumes out of recycled materials, engaging in interactive storytelling and discovering what lies under the sea in a sensory water play activity.
Also on view at the event venue were the artwork and poetry of winners of the Tasawory web competition.