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Artist Lena Dajani expresses her love for Tanzania and captures East Africa’s true colour and vibrancy in her latest exhibition which she hopes will inspire Bahrainis and expats to visit the country.
The American-Palestinian mother-of-three moved to Tanzania in 2008 with her family, when her husband, Khalid Muhtadi, a telecom executive, was relocated to work as managing director of Zain Tanzania.
Living there for two years, Lena fell in love with the country, its people, spirit and history.
When her father, Wafai Dajani, asked her to paint a picture of a photograph he had taken of fishermen in Bagamoyo, a small town in Tanzania, her latest collection of work entitled Karibu Tanzania, which translates from Swahili to ‘Welcome to Tanzania’, was born.
Lena, who now lives in Riffa, said: “Tanzania was my inspiration. I love the country. It’s filled with very bright colours and is extremely beautiful.
“I have previously painted landscapes and scenes from the Middle East but the colours were more earth tones with browns and beige. When I moved to Tanzania, I was just struck by the turquoise of the ocean … even the clothes and the people were so bright – I just wanted to capture all that on canvas.
“I hope my exhibition helps capture Africa and the vibrancy of its nature. It was very inspiring for me so hopefully it might inspire others to visit the country – it comes highly recommended!
“If we had an opportunity to go back I would take it in a heartbeat. You learn to appreciate nature and the more basic qualities in life. People are not as privileged and your values change. You learn what to appreciate. I’m glad my children, Tariq, 16, Zeina, 13, and Faris, 11, had that exposure and were able to appreciate how privileged they are now.”
Karibu Tanzania is semi-abstract yet is still based on Lena’s visual impression. She mainly used acrylic which is a daring move as she normally concentrates on water colours.
She said: “With water colours you have to be precise and detailed. I tried to move away with that and be a bit more daring using these bright colours that are associated with Africa.”
Lena grew up in London and when she was just 12 years old she entered an art competition and won a first prize trip to Europe to stay with a Spanish family for one week. She believes this was the ‘beginning’ of her love of art.
There are 17 paintings in the collection as well as a few greeting cards. The prices range between BD60 to BD220. The Karibu Tanzania Exhibition is taking place at the World Beat Fitness Centre & Café until March 28.
