Portrait 2018

Curator: Alaa Awad created this captivating "Portrait" in 2018, using acrylic paint on canvas. What do you make of it? Editor: Wow, it's striking. The color choices… almost otherworldly. It’s intensely emotional; there is something almost melancholy in the subject’s downcast gaze and icy blue skin. Curator: Absolutely. Blue, traditionally, is associated with sorrow, but it’s also the color of the divine, the heavens. The face is stylized in a way that calls to mind Pharaonic portraiture. The use of vivid, unnatural colors and the simplified forms immediately place it within an Expressionist tradition. The artist appears to be exploring a deeper psychological space. Editor: I agree; there’s definitely a nod to the past in the way she's portrayed, but with such a modern twist. It reminds me of how old myths and archetypes can suddenly appear relevant. Curator: Notice how the warm tones in the headscarf and ornamentation both contrast and compliment the cool blue, creating an unsettling juxtaposition. The motifs evoke both traditional designs, with the looping patterns, but also something more personal. The necklace design seems deliberately abstracted. Editor: It’s almost as if Awad is painting a feeling rather than a person. Like she's trying to capture something ineffable… a memory, perhaps, or a cultural echo? I keep wondering, what's her story? What world does she come from, or wants to create? Curator: That ambiguity, that invitation to project our own interpretations, is part of its power, don't you think? These types of portraits work on the imagination, opening a window onto something hidden within ourselves as well as within the painting itself. Editor: Definitely. This portrait sticks with you, doesn't it? It’s provocative. It haunts a little. I keep seeing stories in it. Curator: It certainly leaves its mark; it urges a re-examination of self, and history. Thank you. Editor: Thanks. It's amazing how colours can shift what we think or believe. A lovely conversation sparked by one compelling portrait.