Sensitive approach

Different facets of Middle Eastern culture and heritage on display in Dubai show


"If I hadn't been an artist I would have been a poetess," says Mouna Bassili Sehnaoui. And this sensitive approach to life is reflected in her paintings. Her works of art are on display in the Green Art Gallery until April 22.

Sehnaoui's collection includes scenes of the Emirates which have impressed her though the dominant theme in the exhibition is the different facets of Middle Eastern culture and heritage.

Having started at the age of 12, Sehnaoui attended several painting studios and training in art academies. She has been inspired by Byzantine icons and Persian miniatures which have now led her to develop her own pictorial vocabulary.

With this approach she manages to express a wide range of emotions.

In the music series, traditional musical instruments of the Arab world have been captured on canvas. The cities emerge in the corner of one painting with their monuments and their local heroes adding to the nostalgia of the complicated history of oriental music.

A drum player, an oud player, and players of tambourine and kamanja exhibit an emotion that is unique and blends with the totality of the painting.

Her painting "Moving Forward" captures the contemporary as well as traditional side of Dubai. The creekside painting comes alive with vibrant symbols of a dhow, skyscrapers, and the horse, which Sehnaoui sees as a symbol of nobility in this part of the world.