Inspired by abstract

The Awakening, an exhibition by UAE national student Arwa A. Lootah, is a holistic presentation of graphic images, old and new

The Awakening is the first solo exhibition of budding UAE national artist, Arwa A. Lootah. At 21, the subject of her exhibition shows the sensitivity and maturity of an artist much beyond her years.

Arwa is a visual artist and graphic design student from Zayed University. "I have used the southern Arabian script which was used in this region around 7,001 years ago.

It belongs to the Sabaic category which roots back to Sabaa I of Yemen's cities," says the young artist. This script has been very difficult to read as some letters are not cognisant with modern day Arabic.

Nonetheless, Arwa with the help of archaeologists and her teachers has deciphered some of it and has transferred it onto her canvas as a holistic multimedia presentation of visually appealing graphic images.

Arwa has chosen this Arabic script for her expression as she would like to make people view archaeology in an artistic way.

"The archaeology of this country tells us about what we were, and by bringing archaeology to people in this modern, artistic way we will make people question themselves about it, they will see how the past, present and the future has been brought together in one art installation that awakens the southern Arabian script," adds an enthusiastic Arwa.

She has been working on this exhibition for the past seven months and it all started by a visit to the Sharjah Museum where she saw the script and it inspired her for further investigation into its origin. This led to many discussions with archaeologists from the U.S., Australia and England.

"Each of my pieces have their own identity and have all been done by graphic design." Arwa has superimposed archaeological pieces and the southern Arabic script to create dramatic images on all her 14 pieces.

An unusual piece is a poem written by Arwa's great grandfather in the ancient script, which Arwa has rejuvenated into modern day Arabic and art. Singers from Al Ain sang the poem and added to the entire ambience enveloping the exhibition arena.

Her art is mostly influenced by abstract and surrealist art. She uses oil paint, acrylic and mixed media on canvas and paper. Rene Magritte remains her favourite artist and she seeks inspiration from his art works.

Arwa feels that it is important for people to understand self-expression through art to see and understand art from another perspective. "When people inform me that my art work has a different style than most young artists in the UAE, it really pleases me and motivates me to work harder," says Arwa.

Her artwork has been exhibited throughout the UAE, France and Belgium.

Selma Tufail, Arwa's painting and drawing teacher says, "We are so proud of Arwa as this is the first solo exhibition by a student and all the art works here are original and has her idea."

Dr Ronald Hawker from the Department of Humanities, Zayed University, has been her guide since the inception of this exhibition. "The whole idea has been hers, I have only guided her, as a student she has displayed an amazing amount of discipline and initiative, as it is very difficult to try and create something that is so ambitious.

The standard of the art community in Dubai is very challenging and it does take a lot of determination to see something like this through." On her work Dr Hawker adds that she has used the past to inspire her present work, and the entire exhibition can be viewed as a fusion of the past and present.