Nan Samuel

The theme that has been developing in my art work over the past 2 years lays around the Middle Eastern society, so influenced by my own culture and background; I tried to express my ideas about the oppression over women and minorities (e.g. homosexuals), which has gradually refined from a general interest in Islamic patterns, Arabic calligraphy and architecture to a more personal to reflect my depiction of how women and minorities are treated in the middle east ,in the society I m part of. I always question the relationship between myself, society and the inequalities that exist. Using items in my work like the veil and the Islamic patterns to symbolize the Arab societies,
Attempting to draw attention to the richness and beauty of the culture itself but at the same time depicting the way the values are structured. My art has developed from simple abstract paintings to body paint and photography; in which I presented my photos in the naked nature and nu style to show the whole beauty of human body. The idea here was to show the contrast between different values (e.g. Freedom vs. oppression) to reach this purpose I ‘ve used a Special illumination that helps to place the correct accents of the body and used paint and calligraphy to show the interaction between human and society, we’re both part of each others. I was inspired by an Iranian female artist ‘Sherin Nashat’ in the way she uses Arabic calligraphy on body parts .