Egyptian Photographer Captures Qatar National Museum in Monochrome

Kuwait-based Egyptian photographer Ahmed Thabet clinched the 2nd prize in the architecture category at Prix De La Photographie Paris by capturing the exterior of Qatar National Museum, which was designed by Ateliers Jean Nouvel. 

Finding solace in photography, Thabet - a pediatrician by profession - procured his first camera to capture the innocence of his child, and quickly grew an award-winning portfolio. The architectural marvel in Qatar, with its desert rose form, became one of the latest muses for Thabet’s artistic vision.

The Qatar National Museum, an elliptical circuit around a central court known as the ‘Howsh’, serves as a fusion of culture and climate in Qatar. Thabet’s lens brings to life the shadows that dance around the museum’s sand-coloured concrete cladding.

Thabet’s abstract monochrome photography transforms the museum’s interlocking disks, varying curvatures and large openings into an architectural symphony. Transcending the mere representation of a building, the juxtaposition of light and shadow in the architecture - accentuated by the photography - invites the eye to journey through the design. The abstraction elevates the museum’s architecture, offering a glimpse into the soul of this cultural gem.