Muscat: Oman’s first virtual exhibition was inaugurated by His Highness Sayyid Theyazin bin Haitham al Said, Minister of Culture, Sports and Youth, at Bait Al Baranda on Monday
The exhibition features paintings by Joana Mollet celebrating Oman’s coastline. The exhibition includes an auction of the painting titled Masirah and proceeds of which will be donated to the Environment Society of Oman.
One can access the virtual exhibition via www.joanamollet.com.
“I am thrilled the exhibition is going well and the reaction to my work has been positive. I am grateful that I have had the chance to use this platform to send the message of conservation to everybody that we should all be active in conserving nature. I am also happy the installation went so well. I would like to thank the girls from Zahra Private School and British School Muscat for helping me in taking this message to the people,” said Joana Mollet.
The girls and the artists collected the materials that were left behind people as trash.
“We collected them together but they did the work. They came up with the concepts and they have produced something that is actually beautiful to look at,” she said.
“The message is that the rubbish that is on the beach today is affecting our wildlife and if you look closely you can actually see the image of a fish trying to eat the plastic,” she added.
There are many reasons why they are harmed but mostly due to what we are leaving behind, pointed out the artist.
It has been almost a year since the artist began to work on the project.
His Highness Sayyid Tariq al Said, an environmentalist, said, “The paintings are coastline themed and there are some fantastic textures and colours that really transport you to our beautiful beaches in Oman. But the deeper message is that coastlines, oceans etc need to be kept clean and we need to be careful about their wastage and that starts with less consumption and reduce the amount of packaging they use. We can reuse the packaging material and recycle them whenever possible.”
As there is a restriction on the number of visitors, Bait Al Baranda thought the best option would be to have a virtual exhibition.
“Everyone can enjoy the exhibition now. All you have to press on the icons and you get to view the art as close as you can and the information as well. By clicking on the information you can even bid for the auction or buy the painting. The links to the virtual exhibition are available on the artist’s website as well as the Environment Society of Oman website. You also have to go online to book for appointments to come to Bait Al Baranda to view the paintings as we are only taking a group of four people at a time every 20 minutes,” explained Malk al Hinai, Director of Bait Al Baranda Museum.
Private viewings require appointments and the exhibition is open for public from 3 -5 November, 2020 from 9am to 4 pm. Masks are mandatory.
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