Driven by Personality: Exploring the Relationship between Custom Cars and Self-expression
By Tharwa Dalansi
Abstract: 
Custom Car Culture (CCC) is a form of creativity that emerges from personal identities and passions. It involves the restoration, modification and personal adornment of commercially manufactured cars. This process creates a journey, where the enthusiast goes through multiple phases of self-reflection. But due to a lack of local resources, Qatar-based CCC enthusiasts often have to send their cars abroad to Dubai or Japan in order to customize them, relinquishing creative control in the process. In response to these challenges, based on observations and interviews conducted among actual CCC enthusiasts, I develop a platform for engagement between these enthusiasts and Qatar-based makers. To illustrate the potential of this platform, I present a series of locally customized car grills and seat covers that reflect both the personality and narratives of Qatar-based CCC enthusiasts, providing them with more freedom, control, and ownership over the modification of their cars, a highly personal and creative process.
A Constructed Memoir: The History and Heritage of the Baloch Community in Qatar
By Somaia Dorzadeh
Abstract: 
In the 1960s, when my father was only thirteen years old, he took a perilous journey on a boat alone from Sistan va Baluchestan, Iran, to Qatar, in the hopes of a better life. Like many long-term residents from Balochistan, my father has lived in Qatar for decades, predating the establishment of the modern state of Qatar itself in 1971. His legal position in the country today remains subject to the Kafala system, and his residency is subject to his employment status, which must be renewed each year. In other words, permanency is never guaranteed, nor is future planning. In 1984, my father was mandated to move to Al Baluche Camp, then a hidden place on the outskirts of Doha, emphasizing this permanent-temporariness. When moving to the camp, the government issued contracts for all the residents of the camp that stipulated that only three materials (plywood, construction-grade lumber, and corrugated metal sheet) were to be used to build their houses, which were officially designated as “temporary.” Thirty-eight years later, some 15,000 residents of the Al Baluche Camp are now facing permanent displacement from their camp—their only home—due to a new official mandate. This thesis highlights the plight of this misunderstood and marginalized community in Qatar, exploring the permanent-temporariness and hiddenness of this ethnic community in Qatar, by constructing a series of symbol-laden cabinets using the same three basic materials.
Behind the Gate: Syrian Women in Soap Operas - Perception vs. Reality
By Tasnim Rahimah
Abstract: 
Syria has witnessed what is known as al-fawra al-drameya, an eruption of drama since 2000. Every year, especially during Ramadan, dozens of Syrian soap operas are aired across the Arab world and beyond, depicting Syrians’ historical struggles as they fought for liberation from the French mandate at the beginning of the 20th century. Although women of those days were a vital part of that liberation movement and had prominent societal roles, these historical fiction soap operas chose to portray only the demure and dismissive female figures and not mention the women who were independent, courageous, and active members of the liberation movement. This one-dimensional portrayal reinforces the stereotypical image of the weak and submissive Arab woman. Based on research, survey findings, and interviews conducted among real Syrian women across generations, this thesis challenges these erroneous TV stereotypes. Inspired by these real-life counter-narratives, my work takes the form of three dowry chests, wooden boxes that usually contain a collection of preparatory gifts given to a bride before her wedding. Instead, each chest is inscribed with Arabic adjectives such as “strong” and “able,” traits typically seen as positive in Arab men but not women. Thus, I reclaim these qualities as symbols of female empowerment while challenging media-propagated gender-biased falsehoods.
Frewayni's Garden: Preserving Tigrayan Culture During a Period of Ethnocide
By Gabrielle Tesfaye
Abstract: 
The recent and ongoing genocidal war in Tigray, Ethiopia, has witnessed the destruction and looting of countless historical religious sites, ancient manuscripts, and artifacts, leaving Tigray’s remaining cultural heritage extremely vulnerable. Such cultural loss erases a shared understanding across generations, robbing them of their history and identity. My work contributes to the safeguarding of Tigray’s cultural heritage and collective memory, informed by literature on cultural preservation efforts in post-war societies, and a series of interviews with Tigrayans in the diaspora and in Ethiopia. The outcome of this thesis is embodied in a series of distinct jebenas, traditional Tigrayan clay coffee pots, featuring near-field communication (NFC) technology—the same technology that enables wireless card payments. The NFC chip in the jebenas links to an online Tigrayan archive, created within the format of an interactive garden. Each coffee pot is also entirely functional, and can withstand high amounts of heat and water. Coffee is ceremonious in the Tigrayan household, representing a time of togetherness and intergenerational cultural exchange. Each unique jebena’s form represents a different time, place, or piece of history, directing viewers to its specific story in the garden via the NFC interface. Frewayni’s Garden is inspired by the community gardens Tigrayan refugees have created in Sudan since being displaced by the war, poetically symbolizing new life, beauty, and healing after pain. In this way, I illustrate how cultural heritage can be preserved, and passed down using the latest technology within traditional Tigrayan objects.