By Bayan al Hadhrami
For those who want to experience more when it comes to an art exhibit, emerging Omani artist and art teacher Jawaher Khalfan is allowing visitors to delve into a world of light and darkness through her exhibition ‘The Call of Light’.
Opening last October 9 and ending on October 22, the exhibit takes place at Nasaq — a trendy art space founded by Mohammed al Aufi.
The collaboration promises an exceptional experience as the venue is not only an art gallery but a coffee shop allowing guests to have a memorable experience not only through art but the power of coffee.
Jawaher’s artwork is dominantly black and white the artist explains that she aims to represent through her work the light and dark within people. She shared that she draws inspiration from the light within herself, stroking white paint on a black canvas.
Jawaher added that in her art world, the light does not overcome the darkness, but both coexist within us harmoniously just as the black and white in her paintings unite to compose art.
In other words, Jawaher believes that people should embrace and accept both the light and dark within them. Yet, Jawaher does not wish to impose on viewers and admirers of her work a specific message or idea. Accordingly, Jawaher does not title her work, and while her paintings in the exhibition remain nameless, each painting is accompanied by an excerpt from Jawaher’s personal diary, allowing us to view Jawaher’s journey to find the light within herself.
Jawaher shares with us some of these excerpts: “There’s magic and light somewhere deep within you waiting for you to see it”, “I closed the room’s door and turned off the lamp, then opened the doors of my heart and let the light within fill the place”, “The light.. I found it, it’s within me”.
The artist also shares with us the beginnings of the adoption of her current art style, dominantly black and white with the representation of a search for light, which came to her as an inspiration as a child sitting under a tree and contemplating on the search for light.
Jawaher adds that she greatly adores plants which are evident in her artwork as elements of nature such as trees, branches and leaves play a role in her work.
Finally, Jawaher expresses her gratitude and immense admiration for the venue Nasaq and the values it upholds, she is glad there’s a good place for artists, for them to share and enjoy each other’s work. She particularly admires the moral and incorporeal values on which Nasaq had been founded. Jawaher explains that Mohammed and Wail al Aufi have created this venue as a memorial of their deceased sister Sahar who loved painting and enjoyed art. The fact that the place is decorated with Sahar’s artworks adds greater value and beauty to the venue, adds Jawaher, and she looks forward to future collaborations with Nasaq as she plans to conduct a workshop in the venue.
