Three women, two generations, one artistically inclined family

As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. One family in the capital will be interpreting this in a unique way with a new exhibition early next year.

On 9th January, A Picture and 1,000 Words will bring together the painting and poetry of three talented women from two generations of one family.

Featuring a body of work that spans abstract and classical painting and a modern poetry reading, mother Fatima and her two daughters Noura and Sarah will weave a story of love, war, everyday life and everything in between.

Bright ideas

Despite sharing the same gene pool, these three women are cut from a very different cloth when it comes to artistic style.

“This exhibition and my recent works have been greatly inspired by the plight of the refugees seeking asylum,” says Noura, the abstract artist of the family. “A lot of my work contains figures of two people together, sometimes interacting, sometimes not. I like to think about the relationships between people.”

For mother Fatima, who paints mainly landscapes, it’s about a sense of place: “I’m a collector of scenes and places, moments in time. I paint things I want to see on my wall, places where I want to slip into the painting.”

Sarah, the poet of the family, finds inspiration in the ordinary, mundane things that make up everyday life: “I work in the hectic corporate world, so I find myself inspired to write about my day-to-day present, because it is always the thing that occupies my mind.”

Painting a story

It might seem like a tough task to connect the dots and weave a narrative between the three distinct styles, but matriarch Fatima firmly believes that the three have an inner dialogue.

“I think we have a telepathy from mother to daughter,” smiles Fatima. “I always understand what they’re trying to say.”

But the connection between the words and paintings goes deeper than just a family bond, with Noura breathing life into her sister’s poetry through art.

“My sister’s poems inspire me, so I interpret them into art,” explains Noura. “I weave a story between the painting and the poem with colours, characters, and sometimes by painting an impression of the words within the work.”

Charity begins at home

One of the key purposes for this family’s exhibition is not only to celebrate artistic talent, but also to raise awareness and funds for a charity dear to the artists’ hearts.

The family plans to donate 50 percent of works sold at the exhibition to help the Future Centre for Special Needs, a charity working with disabled youth to help them realise their full potential.

“This means everything to be able to exhibit our work and support the centre,” says Fatima.

“We’re so moved by what they do,” adds Noura, “When you’re blessed with healthy kids and you see others who constantly have to struggle due to disability – we want to be able to help.”

Need to know: 

When: 9th to 21st January. Opening night from 6pm, then daily 8am-8pm

Where: The Space, twofour54, Park Rotana Complex, next to Khalifa Park

Find out more: instagram.com/apictureand1000words

WORDS Camille Hogg