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Internationally acclaimed Egyptian photographer Youssef Nabil presents a solo exhibition of his photographs at the newly opened The Third Line Gallery in Doha, Qatar. The new gallery that has already firmly entrenched itself in Dubai as an arbiter of contemporary Middle Eastern art scene, opened at the Souk Waqif Arts Centre with the inaugural Youssef Nabil exhibition that runs until July 1, 2008.

Over the years, Nabil subjects have included famous personalities including Tracey Emin, Sting, Paulo Coelho, Kate Moss, David Lynch, Louise Bourgeois and well-known Egyptian names such as belly dancer Fifi Abdou, female artists Ghada Amer, singer Natacha Atlas, actress Youssra, controversial crooner Shaaban Abdel Reheim and Nobel Prize winning author Naguib Mahfouz to name a few.

The Cairo-born New York-based photographer admits to have been inspired by the golden age of Egyptian Cinema while growing up in Cairo. His fascination with the glamour and style of early Egyptian cinema and the hand-coloured family portraits that still adorn most living rooms in Cairo led him to the legendary Egyptian-Armenian photographer Van Leo, who is celebrated for his glamorous studio portraits of famous Egyptian actresses of the 1940s and 50s.

Nabil’s work has been presented in numerous solo and group exhibitions internationally at such venues as Les Rencontres Internationales de La Photographie in Arles, The British Museum, London, The Fries Museum, Leewaarden, Michael Stevenson Contemporary Gallery, Cape Town, FotoFest Houston, Texas, Kunst Museum Bonn, Centre De Cultura Contemporanea De Barcelona, Institut Du Monde Arabe, Paris, The Third Line, Dubai, Centro Andaluz De Arte Contemporaneo, Sevilla, The Aperture Foundation, New York City and currently at the North Carolina Museum of Art, USA. In 2003, he was awarded the Seydou Keita Prize for portraiture at the Biennial of African Photography.

Here’re some images from the opening night of the inaugural exhibition, sponsored by Deutsche Bank, where the art cognoscenti of Doha and Dubai turned up in full force.

From left: Youssef Nabil, Alexander Schuetz, Mounir Husseini

Artsy crowd chinwagging

Mishaal Al Gregawi, director of Cinema Akil Cinema, Dubai with Tariq Al Jaidah, founder of Waqif Arts Centre, Doha

Sunny Rahbar, co-director of The Third Line and Sofia Urbino, London-based art advisor

From left: Marcel Khalife, well-known Palestinian-Lebanese composer, singer and Oud player; John Kassabian, head of operations at Waqif Arts Centre and artist Youssef Nabil

Youssef Nabil with Will Laurie of Christies

Photography by: Gillian Cumming