Hey’Ya: Celebrating Arab Women

Up until the grand opening ceremony last Friday, which celebrated anything British and welcomed smiling athletes from 205 nations, London was getting some bad press regarding the attitudes and what seem to be exaggerated security measures for this year’s Olympics. Most of what Londoners, and visitors, saw had more to do with complaints and policing than the sports and inspiration that goes into the biggest international event in the world.
An exhibition of portraits of young, female athletes from all over the Arab world, Hey’Yah: Arab Women in Sport however, brought light into what was a rather grim Olympics mood. Accessible, celebratory and proud, this Qatar Museum Authority commissioned project reminds us of the hope and excitement around this world-awaited quadrennial event that so many aspire to.
The exhibition features a brand new series of large-scale photographs by French portraitist Brigitte Lacombe of more than 50 Arab sportswomen, from beginners to Olympians, from 20 different Arab countries, shown alongside videos by her sister, Marian Lacombe, which situate the images within the women’s personal histories and a wider — often unspoken — discourse of gender, culture and sport in the Arab world.
The stories of each of these women span from hopeful and determined to excited and promising. Brigitte Lacombe comments, “For me everything is a portrait. If I meet someone who is doing something interesting, I want to record them as fully and beautifully as I can. These are very passionate and inspiring women. I know nothing about sports and discovered a lot, they have determination and intelligence to fight the battle."
The portraits fill the two large halls of the Sotheby’s exhibition space. But around the back, screens are set up for people to watch the women speak and hear their stories. This is where many of the portraits come to life.
Qatari swimmer, Nada Arkaji, the first woman to represent the country in the Olympics, tells her whimsical story with a big smile. She talks of freedom in the water, likening herself to a mermaid. She also speaks of her pride in breaking the barrier for women and sports in her country, and her hope that others will be inspired to follow suit.
Hayat Lambarki, from the Moroccan athletics team, talks about keeping her femininity as an athlete. Her nails are done in hot pink, bejeweled in little white shiny studs. She jokes about using make up to hide her fear while running, but then retracts that there is no way to hide the fear.
Mariam Hussein, a Somali basketball player, grew up in and works in Canada. She talks about the difficulty girls in Somalia have being an athlete. 'It's allowed but there are certain groups that don't like it. You can get killed if you're a girl that plays sports there," she says.
“They are not talking about nations, they are talking about people, they are talking about their experience and what they do,” says Jean-Paul Engelen, director of Public Art Program at the Qatar Museum Authority. “So many times in debates about nations you forget that it’s about people. So we really wanted this to be a celebration of that.”
Many of the women are firsts: Either first in their personal endeavor, first person to be representing their sport for their country, or first woman to be representing their country. As a current body of images, this collection has a clear resonance for future generations, the ‘legacy’ that so many speak of in terms of the Olympics and other grand events.
“From a museum point of view, we are trying to do two things: Educate and stimulate a debate. And what stimulates debates really is breaking down stereotypes, and I think that is what we are doing with this exhibition. There are many angles that can make the debate interesting, rather than just the question of whether or not they are allowed to play sports,” Engelen continues.
Without weighing down on that question nor evading the controversy, it did not go without notice that Saudi women were indeed part of the collection. In France, Brigitte and Marian, photographed the young equestrian Dalma Malhas from Saudi Arabia during her training there. In Jeddah, they were able to visit the remarkable Jeddah Green Team. Brigitte’s image of them playing behind the garage gate shows silhouette of girls, all together at the center of the court, arms raised, jumping up for the ball. Brigitte points at this one as one of her favorites; "a beautiful image of very inspiring women", she says.
The exhibition was conceived by the Qatar Museums Authority, combining their long-standing commitment to commissioning and showing the work of internationally renowned artists with the wider goal of the country to drive forward Qatar’s aim of educating and sparking debate about sport, and of persuading more girls to find a way to participate.
“We want to create a positive message for women and girls in Qatar to get their role models. Rather than seeing another poster of Messi, no matter how good he may be, he’s not something they can relate to,” Engelen says.
The project, an ongoing one which will ultimately include many more video and photographic portraits by the Lacombe sisters, shows how sports induces feelings of passion, independence, strength, competitiveness and determination: All the things that event such as the Olympics are meant to celebrate. In what has widely been an air of gloomy, grumpy London 2012 Olympics, such an uplifting message that challenges ideas while opening doors for the future, is widely welcome.
Hey’Ya: Arab Women in Sport photography and video exhibition is on display at Sotheby’s in London until Aug. 11, 2012.
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