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Tarfa Alshahwani

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Passports of Memory

Tracing Identity, Belonging, and Design in Qatar

Using a design-as-author methodology, this project investigates the visual history of Qatari passports from the 1960s to the present. It examines how covers, emblems, typography, language, and document structures evolved alongside independence in 1971 and the formation of the modern state.

By analyzing passports, identity cards, and official stamps, the research argues that authority and citizenship were not only administratively recorded but visually constructed through design. The outcome is a self-authored publication that positions passports as designed cultural objects rather than neutral bureaucratic records.

Through archival research, systematic visual comparison, and careful editorial sequencing, the book uses graphic design as the primary storytelling tool, transforming historical documents into a cohesive narrative of Qatar’s emergence as a sovereign nation.

Tarfa Alshahwani

Graphic Design 2026

Using a design-as-author methodology, this project investigates the visual history of Qatari passports from the 1960s to the present. It examines how covers, emblems, typography, language, and document structures evolved alongside independence in 1971 and the formation of the modern state.

By analyzing passports, identity cards, and official stamps, the research argues that authority and citizenship were not only administratively recorded but visually constructed through design. The outcome is a self-authored publication that positions passports as designed cultural objects rather than neutral bureaucratic records.

Through archival research, systematic visual comparison, and careful editorial sequencing, the book uses graphic design as the primary storytelling tool, transforming historical documents into a cohesive narrative of Qatar’s emergence as a sovereign nation.

Tags

Cultural
Identity
Memory

Passports of Memory

Tracing Identity, Belonging, and Design in Qatar

Tarfa Alshahwani

Graphic Design 2026

Tags

Cultural
Identity
Memory

Using a design-as-author methodology, this project investigates the visual history of Qatari passports from the 1960s to the present. It examines how covers, emblems, typography, language, and document structures evolved alongside independence in 1971 and the formation of the modern state.

By analyzing passports, identity cards, and official stamps, the research argues that authority and citizenship were not only administratively recorded but visually constructed through design. The outcome is a self-authored publication that positions passports as designed cultural objects rather than neutral bureaucratic records.

Through archival research, systematic visual comparison, and careful editorial sequencing, the book uses graphic design as the primary storytelling tool, transforming historical documents into a cohesive narrative of Qatar’s emergence as a sovereign nation.

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