Rashid Johnson (b. 1977, United States of America) began his art practice in the late 1990s making large-format photographic portraits while receiving his undergraduate degree from Columbia College in Chicago. Since then, Johnson’s practice includes painting, sculpture, film and installation, addressing issues of identity and memory.
Located at the park in front of the Doha International Airport (DIA), which first opened in 2005, Village of the Sun is in a central area that welcomed visitors of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™. It acts as a reminder of the multicultural and diverse people that make up the wider community in Qatar.
Stemming from Johnsons’ Broken Men series (2013), Village of the Sun compromises four walls tiled with multicoloured ceramic figures that are easily recognizable yet abstracted at the same time. Here, Johnson pays homage to the long history and practice of mosaics as a fine craft that operates between various artistic mediums, while also elevating it into the discourse of contemporary art. Throughout, these figures express various levels of colourful dynamism allowing the visitor to relate and recognise themselves within the work at large, highlighting our shared humanity.
Do you see yourself within this work? How would you represent yourself?
Don’t forget to take pictures of you and your friends and family and tag @QatarMuseums
