Faces of cultural diversity

Globe-trotting artist Seana Mallen aims to tell a thousand stories proclaiming the joy of cultural diversity through the faces of her subjects.

Since moving to Bahrain seven years ago from the UK, Seana has found the time to concentrate the mind on her art and develop her skills. She also teaches at Bahrain Polytechnic as well as assisting budding artists at her home in Awali.

She started her career painting portraits and then decided to examine other art forms until making a trip to Ethiopia that inspired her to return to her first love of portraiture.

The Californian mother-of-two said: “The human face is always intriguing. I love to travel and whenever I do I keep a sketchbook with me at all times.

“Drawing and painting in an inspiring foreign place is my favourite way to spend a holiday. That way, when I return to my studio in Bahrain, I have enough material to keep me painting for months.

“I have travelled to Kenya, Ethiopia, Syria, Sri Lanka and India just for my art. I’m like a dry sponge … leaving the desert and soaking up all the cultures.

“Going to Ethiopia and seeing all these wonderful faces really got me back into portraits. What’s better to paint than the human face? It’s so full of variety.”

With her husband Richard working full-time for oil giant Bapco and her two children, Lucy, 23, and Simon, 25, leaving for university, Seana has been able to focus on her artwork, and says when she moved to Bahrain it really took off.

Seana’s observational drawings capture a moment of a subject’s life and the paintings colourfully develop the emotion in a brushstroke.

One of her first portraits was of her mother and it is placed in her studio. “I wouldn’t say I had a favourite piece of work, but if the house was on fire and I had to pick one to save it would be that portrait,” she said.

“I love to have the picture in my studio, I love to have her smiling with me and being there. A lot of my work is about people who are close to the earth and have lived with true dignity without all the nonsense we have in this world.

“We can get so wrapped up about the most materialistic things and it’s so great to travel somewhere and get a perspective of what the important things in life are.

“I did a portrait of a camel herder in Ethiopia. He was lovely, had such dignity and pride, although he really had so little in terms of material possessions. This painting sums up my work.”

Seana has been involved in environmental and community projects such as the acclaimed reading tree for the Pakistan School and the peace tree as part of Unite Bahrain. She was also asked to make a mural in Qatar made out of 25,000 bottle tops to promote recycling.

Seana gained a BA in Fine Art at the University of California in 1976, later achieving a Master of Fine Art from Kingston University in the UK, and is now passing on her knowledge.

“I love it. I feel extremely lucky that this is what I do. As Noel Coward said, ‘Work is more fun than fun’, and I heartily agree,” she explained.

To view more of her artwork, visit www.smmallen.moonfruit.com