A review of the Marvellous Creatures Exhibition at MIA

If I was to tell you that this morning before lunch, I saw a rainbow coloured bird 4 times the size of a human, an eagle-headed lion with the wings of a peacock and an evil demon wrestling with a dragon, you might wonder what I’d been smoking. In fact, these creatures are almost as terrifying as Doha’s roads on a Thursday evening.

As a child I had grown up hearing my grandparents tell me stories at bedtime from the Mahabharata, an Indian epic with incredible adventures that captivated my imagination.

I’ve always been fascinated with monsters and dragons and the like. So as you can imagine, I was keen to see this collection. Having not been familiar with the Persian epic, the Shahnemah before attending the exhibition, it has left me fascinated and disappointed we never heard these stories in my part of the world when I was growing up.

To put it into context, the Shahnemah is 7 times the length of Homer’s Illiad, and the collection of stories that are known today took over 30 years to compile by the Persian poet Ferdowsi. It tells the story of creation, as believed by the Sassanians, and the story of the first men on earth.

It follows with an account of the heroes of the Persian age and concludes with the conquest of Alexander the Great and the ultimate collapse of the Sassanian dynasty. Subsquently I have found this great website that gives an accessible introduction to the epic in graphic novel format (Source)

To see these tales captured in immaculately bound texts from the middle ages transported me to a different age. Just thinking about how long it must have taken the artists to complete this work and at such expense at the time made it all the more impressive.

Alongside historical artefacts, some of the more recent illustrations on display were hauntingly beautiful. In particular, Marc Chagall’s lithographs depicting several scenes from the Arabian Nights stories were striking in their simplicity and elegance.

Fragments of tapestries, pottery and carpets with animal motifs were also present and were a fascinating insight into the role that particular animals played in society and what they symbolised. There were too many stories to tell for me to feature them on this post, but were on display for you to enjoy.

One aspect that I really liked was the auditorium where illustrations from the galleries were brought to life in animated sequences reminiscent of puppet theatre that would have entertained the royal courts of Persia of years gone by.

As with all fables, the moral messages conveyed are a great teaching tool and as I was watching, several families were there with their children in tow, absolutely captivated by the vibrant colours on display.

In an age of Ipads and playstations, it was lovely to see the joy I had of seeing art like this when I was a kid still being relevant today.

As fascinating as the exhibition was, I wished it was bigger. Also, MIA still don’t seem to have sorted out their audio guides which is a real shame as I would have loved to find out more about some of these exhibits.

There is a guided tour on the 16th April which would be an excellent opportunity to ask more questions and learn more about the stories.

The gallery itself could be more child-friendly with more opportunities to be interactive but there is a breakout room with activity stations (unmanned when I visited), an interactive jigsaw puzzle and tiles for children to design their own mythical beasts. The schedule for children’s workshops looks superb and makes me wish I was a little kid again!

Overall, I’d highly recommend a visit if you are going for a stroll along the Corniche and haven’t visited MIA in a while. It’s definitely worth it, as the exhibition is of a different tone to the permanent galleries and perhaps more accessible, especially if you have children.  There is a regular schedule of workshops until June and one or two talks for adults too.

This exhibition has definitely inspired me to re-read some old classics from my childhood and learn more about the Shahnameh.

So have you been to the exhibition as well? What did you think of it? Do you have a favourite mythical creature from stories you heard?

If you'd like to read more of my articles about events in Doha, please check out my blog.