Wafika Sultan has earned her place as the first professional Qatari visual artist. She specialises in painting and plastics, and is the pioneer of modern art in Qatar.
Sultan earned a valuable scholarship from the Qatari government at a time when art was not usually linked with women in the region. This allowed her to head off to Cairo, Egypt, where she studied at the Helwan University’s (known as the Cairo University at the time) Faculty of Fine Arts in the city’s Zamalek district where she majored in Interior Design. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Applied Art in 1975.
She became part of a group of artists who incorporated painting in Qatari society and built relationships between artists, intellectuals and other social groups. Her arts practice is informed by Qatari folklore, natural history, proverbs and songs. She investigates the relationships between women and men, and questions on genre.