The visual series depicting the capital city of the Maldives in the 1800s: “Fortress of Male'” by Maldivian landscape painter, Aminath Shimha Shakeeb is set to be displayed at the new art space located in the heart of the Marina @ CROSSROADS Maldives.
A home to a variety of masterpieces from local community as well as international artists of all levels and genres, “the Gallery” will feature 26 watercolor paintings of this exhibition from 22nd to 27th March 2022.
Fortress of Male’ is the first art exhibition to be held in the Maldives, displaying the historical arts and culture of the island nation. These 26 watercolor paintings of Malè, depict the capital of Maldives in the 1800s, long after the fortress wall surrounding the island fell into disuse.
The illustrations are based on extensive studies of 16th century Portuguese maps; descriptions mentioned in “Tarikh Islam Deeba Mahal” [“The Islamic History of the Maldives Islands”] written in Arabic in the 1700s; photographs of Malè taken in the 19th and early 20th centuries and H. C. P. Bell’s “The Maldive Islands – Monograph on the History, Archaeology, and Epigraphy”.
“The journey in making the paintings for the “Fortress of Male’” was indeed a huge learning experience. It was very exciting to visualize Male’ in the 1800 based on the limited resources. As an artist who loves the Maldivian culture I found this project very close to my heart and I knew I had to work on this no matter what. I knew this was something someone had to do at some point, and a collaboration like this taught me to appreciate our history more. This is actually a new beginning to something good. I am very grateful to show part of our history in watercolor and to have made a contribution to Maldivian art history”
said Aminath Shimha Shakeeb.
The Marina @ CROSSROADS Maldives is open to the public for daily visit from 11:00am to 11:00pm and visitors can book their tickets via CROSSROADS Maldives mobile app or may contact +9607307032 for more details about The Gallery.
For more update, follow @themarinacrossroadsmaldives on Instagram and Facebook