Enigmas of the subconscious

Shaikha Wafa Hasher Al Maktoum's surrealistic paintings take you into the unknown world of the subconscious. The young Emirati artist is interested in exploring the hidden fantasies, fears, desires and dilemmas that are manifested in our dreams. Her first solo exhibition, titled In Dreams, is an attempt to understand and interpret the language of dreams and the emotions associated with them.

Al Maktoum has studied Business Administration and Art and Design. The multi-talented artist has exhibited her photographs and graphic art in various group exhibitions in the UAE. She also runs a Dubai-based multidisciplined design studio called FN Designs (pronounced "fann" as in the Arabic word for "the arts"). However, this is the first time she is displaying her paintings in public.

"These paintings were inspired by a casual conversation with a friend. We were talking about our dreams and that sparked my interest in what people see and feel in their dreams and what goes on in the brain when we are sleeping. So I asked all my friends to tell me about their dreams and took notes. Later I made a few sketches depicting some of the dreams and the emotions evoked by them, which gradually developed into this series of paintings," Shaikha Wafa says.

Her delicate and detailed drawings are done with ink and an ultrafine brush on special paper and convey the essence of the dreams through just a few simple strokes and lines. "I wanted to stay true to the people who shared their dreams with me. I have tried to convey those aspects of the dreams that most touched them and the emotional effect the dreams had on them," she says.

Shaikha Wafa's black-and-white palette, simple imagery and the barely outlined features of her figures create that feeling of a mysterious, hidden world. And anything is possible in this realm of the subconscious. People can defy gravity and float; they can have wings; and they can effortlessly touch the stars and planets.

But this is also where we come face to face with our fears and complexes. A painting titled Rumours Have Wings depicts a man with large, intricately decorated wings, but rather than helping the person fly, the wings are so heavy that they weigh him down and make him feel trapped. Another disturbing painting expresses the fear of an arthritic person about being unable to hold anything or drive his car.

Equally poignant is a painting titled Hero. The dream was shared by a friend whose humanitarian works had helped many people. The painting depicts his recurring nightmare that he is unable to help people in distress. And we can all identify with Silent Shout, which shows a person screaming and expresses all the anger and frustration that we keep bottled up inside ourselves.

Two paintings stand out because the palette includes splashes of deep red. One shows a distressed person rushing towards a door, suggesting he is desperate to reach his goals but is unable to do so.

The other one depicts a magic trick gone wrong, with several rabbits running around a perplexed magician, and alludes to a feeling of not being in control. "I used red here because the narrators of these dreams expressed the most intense emotions," Shaikha Wafa says.

The artist is reluctant to discuss the stories behind her paintings and has deliberately given them cryptic titles. "We all dream and we have all experienced the emotions expressed in these images. I do not want to limit my work to just the dreams narrated by my friends. I want viewers to identify with them and interpret them in their own way," she says.

The artist has also created an interesting set of embroidered artworks to complement her ink paintings. Here, she has embroidered on paper words that convey feelings and superstitions associated with dreams.

These include phrases such as "Reality can be very far away or right there"; "Journey through the state of mind"; "Not everything you see is a sign — stop worrying about what your dream meant"; "Dare to dream"; and "Is this real and this is real".

The threads that have been deliberately allowed to run appear like fine nerves in the brain and the paper has been spray-painted with such dark shades of red and black paint that the words are barely legible, creating a feeling of something hidden deep beneath the layers of consciousness.

The exhibition has been organised by Bonham's. It is the first in a series of exhibitions that the international fine art auction house plans to hold at its Dubai premises to encourage young Emirati artists and support the local art scene. Guy Vesey, the regional director of Bonham's Middle East, says: "Bonham's has always been interested in supporting emerging artists and these exhibitions will provide a platform for promising talent from the region to showcase their work. Shaikha Wafa is a gifted artist who is passionate about art and about life in general and is the perfect choice for our first show. Perhaps one day we will see her works in a Bonham's auction."

In Dreams will run at the Bonham's gallery on Jumeirah Beach Road until May 23.