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Creative Saira Ranj, who is part of the In Art World (IAW) organisation which is dedicated to providing platforms for artists and their work on a global level, is featuring her colourful collection for people to reflect upon and admire.
The Hands Speaketh showcase, held on the ground floor of Harbour Gate within the Bahrain Financial Harbour (BFH) until September 28, features 11 pieces created over the last year using oils, acrylics and other mixed media.
“The idea of having a solo exhibition has been on my mind for a long time,” said the poet and artist who is also the marketing head at Europcar Oman and Bahrain.
“The aim is to focus on letting people know how to read art, and how to engage with artworks. Art is not understood by a large audience— and when an artist is expressing and being vulnerable and brave enough to self-reflect through colours, thoughts and strokes on a public platform— it is imperative they understand the ethos behind it. And this is what this exhibition accomplishes.”
Her artwork, which is up for grabs, attracted several creatives from across the island and was inaugurated by Anita Menon, a serial entrepreneur and managing director of various establishments such as The Butterfly Effect Company, a wellness centre, a beauty parlour and a consultation company.
Saira’s favourite painting is called She and according to her, ‘it’s the face of a woman who says so much’.
Meanwhile, visitors enjoyed the little messages posted alongside each painting.
For example, the painting She says, ‘what it means to me: A little woman, a little wolf’. Whereas her Everything, Everywhere, All at once work, says: ‘It’s also all about time and when the moment has arrived. We just happened to be the muse, the one to receive it all’.
Saira is no stranger to adding words to her pieces as she is the Bahrain Writer’s Circle (BWC) director and is known for writing fiction, penning poems and performing improv.
The BWC has attracted various art and literary lovers to Harbour Gate in the past with The Confluence – Where Words and Images Meet exhibition. It is basically visual art powerfully interspersed with word art to offer onlookers a chance to really experience the perspectives of both.
She will be participating in the upcoming Confluence exhibition in October, and then in December she will partake in an independent art show by a group called BAH-Bahrain Art Hub, which includes her and her fellow artists.
Saira has won several accolades in art and is a founder of an avant-garde skill development centre based in Bahrain. She has exhibited her pieces in Dubai, India and the island over the years.
In June, she participated in a group exhibition entitled Shades and Shadows, held in Dana Mall, featuring more than 102 canvases, quilling work and photographs inspired by the use of a single colour or variations of that hue.
She featured three of her works in sepia, a dark reddish-brown pigment obtained from the inky secretion of the cuttlefish.
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