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Gabriel Chaile

GABRIEL CHAILE

Autorretrato Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art 16 December 2025–21 February 2026 Doha
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Press Release

Drawing on artist Gabriel Chaile’s Afro-Arab and Indigenous ancestry, Autorretrato (Self-Portrait, 2022) treats these physical elements as a sculptural trace of hybrid identity, shaped by centuries of cultural mixing following the Spanish colonisation of the Americas in the 16th century.

Across cultures, archaeologists note that hair has historically served as a marker of identity, often reflected in art and material culture. Inspired by the head of the prehistoric Venus of Willendorf (c. 25,000 BCE), one of the earliest surviving representations of the human body, Chaile’s clusters of raised forms suggest the base of hair. In the front, the artwork is covered in knots that mimic his own hair recalling his Afro-Arab and Latin roots.

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About the Gallery

Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art is a leading contemporary art museum in Doha, Qatar, located in Education City, housing the world’s largest collection of modern and contemporary Arab art

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Address
Education City Student Center, Doha, Qatar
Doha
Qatar
Opening Hours
Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday,
9am – 7pm
Thursday, 9am – 9pm
Friday, 1:30pm – 7pm

Closed Monday
(1)
Doha Education City Student Center, Doha, Qatar
Mathaf Arab Museum of Modern Art contemporary art institution in Doha Qatar
Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art
Education City Student Center, Doha, Qatar, Doha, Qatar
+974 4402 8855
https://mathaf.org.qa/en/

Opening hours
Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday,
9am – 7pm
Thursday, 9am – 9pm
Friday, 1:30pm – 7pm

Closed Monday
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