The Artists of 2023: Farah Al Qasimi
By Anna Lentchner
![](https://artasiapacific.com/rails/active_storage/blobs/proxy/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsibWVzc2FnZSI6IkJBaHBBOUVTQVE9PSIsImV4cCI6bnVsbCwicHVyIjoiYmxvYl9pZCJ9fQ==--3e32f1adcfcb1ef83fa9ccd4ee4b3d2568c0ed26/Artist%20of%20the%20Year%2011.jpg)
Portrait of FARAH AL QASIMI. Photo by Ally Caple. Courtesy Fran
Kohl-lined eyes framed by a leopard-print hijab; a tomato carved into the shape of a rose; an Islamic prayer rug draped over a stack of plastic chairs. These are some of the subjects featured in the richly textured, unabashedly colorful photographs and videos of Abu Dhabi and Brooklyn-based artist Farah Al Qasimi. Warping the everyday into the extraordinary, she depicts the kitsch and often self-contradictory ethos of postmodern life.