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A leading Bahraini artist wants to change the global perception of Bahraini culture with unique locally created art pieces at her new gallery in Bahrain International Airport’s new passenger terminal.
Leena Al Ayoobi first opened Dar Alfann at the Al Aali Shopping Complex in 2016 to provide a platform for young Bahraini artists to highlight their work.
Since then she has integrated her art designs as well as those of lesser-known Bahraini artists into unique travel items, like luggage covers and phone cases.
She also created pieces that adorned the walls of the old passenger terminal, which caught the eye of curators of the new Souq Al Qaysaria and she was invited to open a gallery in an area of the departures terminal intended to be an homage to the traditional Bahraini marketplace.
“We wanted to show the world that Bahrain is about more than just camels and Bedouin art – we want to highlight the new art emerging from the country,” Leena explained to GulfWeekly.
“And we envisioned it being a part of people’s everyday life, so we have created travel pillows, luggage covers, laptop sleeves and more travel-related items with art prints of up-and-coming artists from across the region.”
Leena started painting when she was seven but decided on a more ‘practical’ university education in business management at Bahrain University.
Disillusioned and still with an unfilled desire to use her creative side, she returned to her passion and within a few years, started showing her work at local exhibitions.
Her first major success came in 2014 when she joined a group of colleagues showcasing their art at an exhibition in Bab Al Bahrain.
Her paintings were a hit and she sold six before she had even opened her booth. Following this success, Leena decided to focus on art as a career and founded Dar Alfann, which translates to House of Art.
When she decided to share her platform with other artists, she guided them through the nuances of finding the right stage, medium and angle for their work to help turn it into a career.
Dar Alfann will be featuring the talent of Adnan Al Ahmed, Mohsen Ghareeb, Seema Baqi, Linda Matar and Saud Toorani. Leena is also looking for more artists to join the collective.
“We want to offer those departing from the kingdom a small piece of Bahrain and its modern identity,” she added.
“We want to reflect Bahrain’s modern culture through paintings, photography and digital art, we are also exploring ways to make poetry and music part of our portfolio.
“This is our opportunity to highlight Bahraini talent on an international stage. With our pieces, people can get a unique item which they won’t find anywhere else in the world!”
For more details, follow @daralfann_gallery on Instagram.
