Christto & Andrew are an artistic duo based in Doha, Qatar and Copenhagen, Denmark. The duo was formed in 2012 and work across the mediums of photography, mixed media and film. Their work makes use of exposing the effects of structures of history, politics, the economy, popular culture and rigid societal normalities they experience in everyday life using colour and surreal still life portraits.
Christto & Andrew first gained international acclaim with their inclusion in the 2014 Foam Magazine "Talent Issue" [1] and have since exhibited in solo exhibitions, group shows, biennials and art fairs worldwide, including the Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow (2015), [2] Unseen Photo Fair, Amsterdam (2016), [3] NRW - Forum Düsseldorf (2017) and have been included in publications such as Vogue España, [4] Dazed [5] magazine and the British Journal of Photography [3] .
Christto Sanz (born Christian Manuel Sánchez Diaz in 1985) completed his Bachelor of Arts from Escuela de Arts Plasticas, San Juan Puerto Rico in 2008, [6] followed by his master's degree in Visual Communication and Photography from Elisava School of Design and Engineering, Barcelona in 2010. [7] He was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Andrew Weir (born Andrew Jay Weir in 1987) completed his Bachelor of Business Administration from University Ramon Llull, Barcelona in 2011, followed by a Master of Arts in degree from University College London - Qatar in 2016. [7] He was born in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Christto & Andrew started working together while studying abroad in 2009 in Barcelona, [8] with their artistic union being formed in 2012. [9] The duo is currently living and working between Doha, Qatar and Copenhagen, Denmark and are focusing on mediums in the fields of photography, mixed media and film. They have developed what has been described as a “shared visual language” [3] between real, digital and fictional world they experience in Qatar. Using this, they aim to create a new reality using characters and colour inspired by the mixture of their different backgrounds. [10]
During their artistic career, Christto & Andrew have built a reputation for breaking down the traditional ideas about photography by incorporating tools and methods to create artwork using elements of humour juxtaposed with dark accents using irony and sarcasm [11] for change in how to conceive their art. [12] Their work has employed a contemporary narrative, by using compositions using colourful and surreal still-life and portraits aimed towards a new aesthetic and attempting to challenge the structure and development in the Middle Eastern Gulf states, the rapid societal changes and contradiction of the rigid societal normalities and exposes the effects of structures of history, politics, the economy and popular culture. [13]
Juergen Teller is a German fine-art and fashion photographer. He was awarded the Citibank Prize for Photography in 2003 and received the Special Presentation International Center of Photography Infinity Award in 2018.
The Qatar Open, currently known as the Qatar ExxonMobil Open for sponsorship reasons, is a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It is currently part of the ATP Tour 250 series of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Tour. It is held annually in January at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex in Doha, Qatar, since 1993.
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Saskia de Brauw is a Dutch artist and model. She began modeling at sixteen but quit after one year to attend art school in Amsterdam. Returning to modeling at the age of 29, she quickly became a successful fashion model. Notable appearances include Carine Roitfeld's final cover for French Vogue (2011) and a starring role in David Bowie's 2013 music video The Stars . Her photographs of found objects have been exhibited at the National Museum of Scotland. She and her husband, photographer and filmmaker Vincent van de Wijngaard, collaborate on multimedia projects that include his photographs and her writing.
Qatar Museums is a Qatari government entity that oversees the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA), Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, MIA Park, QM Gallery at the Katara Cultural Village, ALRIWAQ DOHA Exhibition Space, the Al Zubarah World Heritage Site Visitor Centre, and archaeological projects throughout Qatar, as well as the development of future projects and museums that will highlight its collections across multiple areas of activity including Orientalist art, photography, sports, children's education, and wildlife conservation.
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Leila Alaoui was a French–Moroccan photographer and video artist. She worked as a commercial photographer for magazines and NGOs and completed assignments on refugees. Her work was exhibited widely and is held in the collection of Qatar Museums. Alaoui died from injuries suffered in a terrorist attack in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
Nadia Lee Cohen is a British artist, photographer, and filmmaker. She works inside popular culture, citing inspiration from cinema, commercials, and consumerism, which then re-enters the mass media in the form of magazine covers, music videos and Instagram posts.
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