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To celebrate the golden jubilee of the revered Bahrain Society of Engineers (BSE), architect and artist Mahdi Al Jallawi has completed 25 tea and coffee paintings of some of Bahrain’s most iconic landmarks.
The paintings were unveiled last night at the Bahrain International Conference and Exhibition Centre in Sanabis, kicking off a three-day event commemorating the golden jubilee, under the patronage of His Majesty King Hamad.
“The idea for these paintings came about when we started planning out the appreciation ceremony for the members of the society,” Mahdi, 38, told GulfWeekly.
“Having seen similar paintings that I had created for the Capital Governorate, the BSE commissioned me to create 25 of them, which will be presented to dignitaries and top engineers.”
The paintings have been created with coffee and tea, both to create a unique vintage feel and to represent through the medium, the Arab world and Bahrain’s beverages of choice.
Most of the pieces have been created in the last month, and although that works out to a painting a day on average, Mahdi often finds himself working on more than one painting at the same time, while the others dry.
As he worked on his pieces at his workshop at Seef Mall, he explained how each piece can take ‘three hours… and 30 hours of training.’ He also showed the team how his process has grown to be just as natural and organic as the ingredients he uses.
“After picking a photo, I trace the structure of the building with tea,” Mahdi said, explaining his process.
“This is after preparing the canvas, of course, which I tint into a sepia colour using tea as well. Later I add the details and definitive shapes with coffee, because it is a much darker shade.
“For the tea, I use recycled tea leaves from karak shops, so the colour is a bit lighter than if I brewed fresh tea.
“And after letting it dry, we coat the canvas with a fixative to prevent the deterioration of organic compounds like coffee.”
The 25 paintings depict different projects important to the 50-year-history of the BSE.
This includes the Bahrain International Circuit, Grand Mosque, Pearling Path, Hidd Bridge, Bahrain Bay, World Trade Centre, Isa Cultural Centre, Bahrain Financial Harbour and Arad Fort.
Each painting builds upon the initial artist and architect’s impressions of the building, adding elements like tea or coffee, as well as burned ‘bukhoor’ – frankincense – in a few selected paintings.
“Tea and coffee represent history and hospitality for Arabs,” Mahdi added. “Even though I don’t drink tea or coffee myself, using them on my canvas adds a certain smell and texture to my art.”
Alongside the art exhibition, the BSE is hosting a two-day conference discussing how the engineering field in Bahrain can be developed.
“We also organised a pottery and trophy-making workshop for the engineers, and we were able to create some unique pieces which will be given out during the ceremony,” Mahdi added.
The BSE’s programme continues today, honouring its 2,764 members and building on 50 years of engineering excellence.
For more details, follow
@mahdialjallawi on Instagram.
