from mountains to mangroves...

falcon . 2023

gazelle, mountains . 2023

gazelle, ghaf tees . 2023

camel, desert . 2023

camel, falcon, desert . 2023

oryx, oasis . 2023

oryx, palm trees . 2023

mangroves . 2023

at the end of last year, i worked on the illustrations above highlighting the fauna of the uae and their habitats for a project targeting young children and their parents. the aim was to teach children at an early age, with the help of their parents, about the various animals and landscapes found around the emirates through dynamic and fun illustrations.

in the end, my illustrations were not selected to move forward for the final project. even though it was disappointing to hear at first, i'm still very proud of these illustrations. it was a great exercise in understanding and defining an illustration style that would appeal to children. i think the illustrations are quite fun, cute and whimsical. but i guess there was still something missing in the end...

keeping this post short and sweet – i hope whoever sees these enjoy them as much as i did making them. word on the street is, a lot of people are digging the mangroves...! 

eid al fitr 2024

eid al fitr . 2024

eid al fitr scarf (sample) . 2024

eid al fitr scarf (sample) . 2024

eid al fitr scarf detail (sample) . 2024

here's another eid al fitr project, this time for shamal holding. alongside working on their ramadan greetings (see post here), i also had the opportunity to work on an eid al fitr artwork which was printed onto silk scarves and gifted to their vips. 

the artwork was inspired by the spirit of the season – observing the skies to commemorate the arrival of eid al fitr, motifs and patterns from islamic architecture, arts and design, and my personal love for textile traditions from the region. 

i'm really happy with how the final artwork turned out, including its application onto silk scarves – it feels very hermès-y! i haven't done much commercial textile projects due to the limitations of textile printing facilities in the uae. however, the final product was well printed and is the encouragement i needed to consider working on self initiated textile products.

if anyone reading this was gifted the final scarf, i hope you like it! once again, thank you shamal holding, as well as impact bbdo (who were the agency working behind the scenes on this campaign) for the opportunity to collaborate.

a magical eid...

eid al fitr (jameel) . 2024

 

eid al fitr for hayy jameel . 2024

eid al fitr for jameel arts centre . 2024

eid al fitr for art jameel . 2024

eid mubarak to everyone celebrating! may your festivities be filled with joy and love amongst family and loved ones. i'm truly thankful for all of life's blessings. for many around the world, that is not the case – please keep those going through troubling and difficult times in your thoughts and prayers.

i was invited to work on the eid greetings for hayy jameel, jameel arts centre and mother company art jameel. the inspiration behind the visuals was my recent textile piece for the jameel library commission titled 'in search of magic' (see previous post about the project here). a collection of magical symbols and patterns appear on all three greetings, and culminate together in the art jameel greeting. 

i'm so so happy with the end results – each greeting stands on its own as a unique design, but also complete each other as a trio! the greetings wouldn't be as magical as they are if it wasn't for dina al khatib, who helped with animating the final greetings. thanks dina!

keeping this post short and sweet – enjoy the eid break, and see you at the next post!

postcards for charity

mini mother of the house . 2024

mini dance distortion . 2024

on the 21st of march, capsule arts hosted 'postcards for compassion – charity art event', a post-iftar fundraiser for one night only at their headquarters, inviting 80+ artists to contribute original a5 sized art postcards, all priced at aed 100. full proceeds of sales would be donated to the emirates red crescent for the humanitarian aid in palestine. click here for more information about the event via capsule arts' web page.

i was happy to participate in the fundraiser with the two original artworks you see above, made with humble coloured ballpoint pens and fluorescent markers. i'm even happier to announce that both artworks were sold. i arrived early at the fundraiser with hopes of taking a few photographs of my works on display, but they were already gone. as annoyed as i was for not managing to get any photographs, i was delighted to find out that someone liked my works and purchased them. to whoever got my artworks – thank you and i hope my little postcards find happy homes! and may our small contributions help those that are currently in need.

ending this short post with a thank you to capsule arts for the invitation to participate. to more fundraisers in the near future...

mother of the house

mother of the house . 2024

 

printing 'mother of the house' at full special studio pop up, sikka art and design festival . 2024

it's the first day of spring and mother's day in the arab world. coincidently, i just received my risograph editions of 'mother of the house', a new print i worked on at full special studio's pop up at the recent sikka art and design festival. if you haven't seen my previous post about full special studio at sikka and the risograph prints i exhibited at their pop up space, please read here.

during sikka, i was asked to create a new risograph print during the duration of the fair. to complement my already exhibited series 'children of the house', i thought my new print would be aptly titled 'mother of the house'! in the world of voguing and ball culture, every house has a mother to their children – i'll leave it to you readers to do a little research to know more on your own! 

i love the quality of the marks from my pen drawings printed as multicoloured layers on a single page. one again, thank you full special studio for the invitation, guidance and support with being a part of their launch and printing my works. if you haven't yet, please follow full special studio right now!!!

ending this post with a happy mother's day to all the mothers out there. god bless...

ramadan kareem 2024

ramadan . 2024

it's that time of year again – ramadan kareem to those observing. may it be a blessed, holy month for us all. sending well wishes to anyone reading this, as well as your families and loved ones.

ramadan has been quite a challenging month for me in recent years. we do our best to observe the holy month, and some years are better than others. here's hoping this year is one of the better ones. remember to be charitable, grateful, mindful and thankful. and keep those that are less fortunate in your thoughts and prayers, especially with all the current tragedies happening around the world.

i'll keep this post short and sweet, and end with a big thank you to shamal holding for giving me the opportunity to work on the illustration above as their ramadan greetings for this year. i'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

children of the house

children of the house i . 2024

children of the house ii . 2024

children of the house iii . 2024

children of the house b/w (gif) . 2024

 

here's a series of new risograph prints i worked on with my dear friends diego and finn who've recently set up their risograph printing studio, full special studio! i'm so excited and proud of them because i've heard them brainstorm ideas of wanting to open a studio for awhile and they finally took the leap and launched at this year's sikka art and design festival. we finally have a risograph printing studio in town!

my prints are a continued exploration of my dancing silhouettes which i've only so far been producing as stamp prints. i took the opportunity to use the risograph machine to give my silhouettes a different dimension – printing the hand drawn pencil marks in colour, and play with values and overlays which is the beauty of riso prints! this is the first time i have multiple dancing figures across a page, so it was fun to build these scenes of dance poses and interactions. it's inspired by my love for house music, voguing and the participants i've encountered from this club culture that i've grown to love – i dedicate these prints to the children of the house...

i really love how the final prints turned out and i can't thank the full special studio duo for guiding me through the process to come up with the best outcomes. if you're not familiar with risograph printing, please do a little search and learn more about it. and more importantly, please follow full special studio and keep up to date with what they have to offer in the near future. support small, local businesses...

ending this post with a photo of my prints beautifully displayed at the full special studio pop up space at this year's sikka art and design festival. it's been 10 years since my last participation at sikka (see here), and i'm super happy to be back after all these years with full special studio. 

all photos courtesy of full special studio.

'children of the house' at full special studio pop up, sikka art and design festival . 2024