Public Art UHS has joined forces with the Diplomacy Institute of University of Houston-Clear Lake—established in 2020 in partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the State of Qatar—and Qatar Museums to celebrate the Qatar-USA 2021 Year of Culture by commissioning a mural from Qatari artist Muna Al-Bader.

Muna Al-Bader (b. 1986) trained as an engineer and business analyst in her native Doha but has worked as an artist for nearly two decades. Al-Bader is best known for color-filled paintings that blend realistic elements and abstraction, while merging iconic Qatari traditions and culture with Western artistic lexicons. Her paintings have been shown at many solo exhibitions in Qatar, including the Dandanah Exhibitions of 2019 and 2020, the youth creative art center, and the Arab youth forum (2007 and 2009). Her murals are mainstays in Doha and have been proximately featured in various art festivals including Doha 360 in 2018. Al-Bader is a member of the Qatar Fine Arts Association and the Souq Waqif Art Center. She currently serves as Qatar’s art ambassador to the UNESCO’s ResiliArt Talk program.

The Qatar-USA Year of Culture 2021 Mural Project at the University of Houston is supported by Qatar Museums, Exxon Mobil, and Qatar Airways.