The unrevealed trauma - Dubai Women's College - Higher Colleges ...

58 PERSONALITY
59
An Emirati multi-talented icon
NUHA HASSAN
Scene from short movie Rewind. Muna Al Ali/DWC
At a MinD (Made in Dubai) art
exhibition, organized by Dubai
Community Theatre & Arts Center
DUCTAC, I met Muna Abdulqader Al
Ali. She was displaying conceptual
video art through a huge screen in
the entrance. Al Ali is a young Emirati
artist who is passionate about
writing, art, photography and
directing. There is no limit to her
creativity. She enjoys learning new
things. She looks at life as a train,
where the stations and all the views
she passes are lessons to learn.
Al Ali has a bachelor in Business
Information Technology from
Dubai Women’s College (DWC). She
started her career by joining the IT
Department of Emirates Post
Group Holding in Dubai as a
programmer. Currently, she is the
manager of Administrative Systems
in the IT Department. She also
holds an executive MBA in Innovation
and Entrepreneurship from
HCT. She enjoys her job. “I learn
new things on a daily basis because
of my curiosity to know and learn
more.” She prefers working on new
and creative ideas rather than doing
routine duties at work.
At school, Al Ali was known for
being a hard working student who
preferred reading or writing stories
and diaries over participating in
extracurricular activities.
Writing poems and novels was
her instrument to explore feelings.
“I believe it helped me explore
ideas and enrich my imagination,”
Al Ali explained. Joining the college
helped Al Ali build strong selfconfidence.
“I will never forget my
first presentation at DWC, when my
English teacher said, “You do have a
smile that relaxes the audience, you
should use it often,” Al Ali said.
In 1999, she started painting
sessions at Emirates Fine Arts
Society (EFAS). Then, she joined
as a member, which allowed her to
attend workshops by famous artists
and get involved in the annual arts
exhibition of EFAS at Sharjah Arts
Museum and other art shows. “In
1999, I started as a painter and I
produced impressionism types of
paintings,” she said. The Ministry
of Culture and Media in Abu Dhabi
collected one of her paintings in
2006. In the same year, one of her
paintings won a Merits Award at
the first Sheikha Manal Young
Artists competition.
She is the second daughter in her
Sharjah-based family. “My parents
support my journey as an artist,
and they are proud of me and try
to help me overcome any obstacle
I face.”
In the field of arts, she mostly
produces contemporary art works
that are based on certain issues
or concepts. “I am inspired by the
world around me and try to convey
my thoughts and reactions to my
surroundings through my artistic
statements.” She considers her artwork
to be an exchange between
herself and the audience.
“I AM INSPIRED
BY THE WORLD
AROUND ME AND
TRY TO CONVEY MY
THOUGHTS AND
REACTIONS TO MY
SURROUNDINGS...”
Her artwork has been shown in international
art shows in New York,
Japan, Australia, Tehran, Turkey,
Germany, Serbia, Spain and several
Arab cities. The majority of her
contemporary works include installations,
photography and non-dialogue
short movies. Last year, her
five-minute short movie “Ea’ada”
(REWIND) was nominated at the
‘Muhr’ Emirati Competition in the
Dubai International Film Festival
(DIFF). It was screened at the Mall
of the Emirates on December 2010.
“REWIND” is an experimental,
surrealistic mystery.
Al Ali is also a writer. She writes
about her work. Her first book
titled Mirror, was published in 2010
by Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture
& Heritage (ADACH), and has been
translated into Urdu and German.
Al Ali encourages artists from the
UAE to represent the country’s
heritage and traditions. “Conceptual
artwork is not popular enough in
our region. We are trying to explain
our work to spread the ideas.” She
believes the media plays an important
role in supporting local talent.
Very ambitious, Al Ali tries to make
the ‘knowledge of new experiments
of arts’ easier for people in UAE
society and show them the path. “I
produce works that represent me
and my identity as a UAE female
artist. Writing my first novel and
directing more movies are my
future plans. I want to create something
that combines all my artwork
in writing, directing and fine arts in
a way that shows my ideas and the
way I see things,” she notes.
She pointed out that being an artist
is not easy. “I usually encounter
many obstacles. However, if you
really have the passion for art, you
can never be happy unless you do
art and nothing should stop you.”
Muna Al Ali/DWC
Al Ali’s book. Muna Al Ali/DWC
Al Ali’s art work. Nuha Hassan/DWC