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Fatma Al Sharshani
Fatma Al Sharshani, from Qatar, trained as a chemist and food scientist, and began studying calligraphy in 2011 in courses at the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha. Her murals were commissioned by Qatar Museums, including one in Portland, and an Arabic inscription of her design appeared on the Paris Saint-Germain kit in the match of 5 January 2025.
Biography
Fatma Al Sharshani made her first mural in 2020, and had practised calligraphy since 2011, when she enrolled in courses at the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha. Her date of birth is not known, so I will not name an age.
Her education is not in art. She graduated from Qatar University with a degree in chemistry and food science.
The mural “Al Noor” (“The Light”) was commissioned by Qatar Museums in 2020. The composition is circular and stands in Qatar Post Park. According to the artist, the work was inspired by the poetry of Jassim bin Mohammed Al-Thani. In 2021, as part of the Qatar-USA Year of Culture, the Portland Street Art Alliance and Qatar Museums jointly commissioned her third mural, in Portland, Oregon. It is called “Never Ending / Endless”, is also circular, and is painted in the Diwani script. Al Sharshani chose it for its especially curved line. In other works she uses the Naskh and Thuluth scripts. The mural is at the corner of Southeast Alder Street and 11th Avenue.
In 2024 the artist travelled to Morocco on a Qatar Museums project: the museum was commissioning artists to make new work for an exhibition, “Ektashif: Morocco”, planned for 2025.
She worked twice for the football club Paris Saint-Germain. The first commission, a skateboard design, dates from 2023 and arose from a partnership between the club and Clown Skateboards. The second was an Arabic inscription for shirts worn in the Trophée des Champions (the French super cup) match played in Doha on 5 January 2025. It was the first time Arabic writing had appeared on the club’s kit. She called the commission “a wonderful opportunity to showcase our [Islamic] culture on an international stage”. For the kit she chose Diwani: it is easy to read and goes well with the other elements of the strip.
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