Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Al-Thani is the driving force behind the Institute of Arab and Islamic Art, an art gallery in Manhattan. Al-Thani comes from one of the most prominent families in Qatar, the ruling Al-Thani family.

He calls the art gallery his passion project. He began the nonprofit organization seven years ago, and moved it to its current space in the West Village roughly two years ago.

Right now, Al-Thani is featuring the work of Nabil Kanso, a Lebanese-American artist who focused on wars — like the Lebanese civil war and Vietnam War — and human suffering.

“Of course, you see an apocalyptic vision, you know, in this work,” Al-Thani said. “The use of color, and the influence that he has from Neo-Expressionism as an artistic movement of that time.”

The timing was purposeful. As the war in Gaza continues, Qatar is playing a key role mediating between Israel and Hamas. Al-Thani himself is not involved in the current peace negotiations, and is speaking to NY1 in an independent capacity. 

“Qatar is doing its best with its allies, and we hope that political leaders that are directly involved in this conflict realize that there needs to be an immediate end to this suffering so that everyone on all sides can live a life of prosperity and peace,” he said.

The artist Kanso was born in Beirut and was surrounded by conflict in the Middle East. In the late 1960s, he moved to New York to study at NYU when there were protests against the Vietnam War. The realities of war — through Kanso’s eyes — are what’s on display at the “Endless Night” exhibit.

“He realized that this idea of war, that no matter how far or foreign, it has an impact on our shared humanity, and he realized that it’s important for art to take a form of a protest, and document these unfortunate circumstances,” Al-Thani said.

Those circumstances include the more than 100 Israeli hostages still being held by Hamas, their conditions unknown, and the more than 40,000 Gazans killed in Israel’s military campaign, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.

“It evokes frustration, because no one wants to see any innocent civilian have to go through war and conflict. No one wants to see any family be separated from their loved ones,” he said.

Al-Thani’s decision to feature work by Kanso may face backlash for being one-sided. However, he says his institute is a safe space for everyone.

“Inclusivity is so important, and it’s at the key of our program and how I personally feel about art and culture. It should be inclusive,” he said. “It’s important to understand there are Arab Christians, Arab Druze, Arab Jews that exist within the framework of the Islamic and Arab world.”

There is no word yet on what exhibition is next. This one, Al-Thani says, is so popular they extended the run until the end of October, as high schools and university students book their time to visit the gallery.