Hala AL KHALIFA
Artist/ Painter
Director General of the Culture and Arts Directorate at the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities
This body of work explores various moods of human emotions and expressions ; they speak to a very old and hidden part of my soul.
Where do we sit?
Amidst worry, contemplating and awaiting, these figures appear on the surface of the canvas within an unpredictable storm of color that imposes itself on the whiteness of the cloth.
This body of work explores various moods of human emotions and expressions; they speak to a very old and hidden part of my soul. Painting them creates comfort and allows a healing process to come through.
While painting I am in a turbulent state of tension, the making of art has never been a harmonious exercise for me. These images appear with the reoccurring chair that makes its way in joining the figures and creates a silent dialogue between them. Sometimes a chair, other times a sofa in parallel to the figures, it could be a symbol that speaks of emptiness, or a place waiting to be occupied.
Words escape me when attempting to describe this body of work. My relationship with the work begins after the storm of creating the first strokes, is over. Then, I can exhale a little and work on all the other elements to finish the work.
There was a sense of relief when I completed this body of work; they are a reflection of every hidden emotion that is present in both my subconscious, and in all repeating expression, in my notebooks, my daily thoughts and the language I understand and speak.
