Fatima Al Jaroudi and her daughters Noura Ali Al Ramahi and Sarah Snowneil Ali will present an exhibition of their art and poetry in A Picture and a Thousand Words at The Space in January.
Al Jaroudi, a former physics teacher from Lebanon, who moved to Dubai with her husband and three daughters in 1989, retired from teaching in 1998 and moved to Abu Dhabi, where she began taking silk painting lessons from the Cultural Foundation. She found her passion when she began oil painting on canvas, with her main subject being nature and specifically landscapes.
Al Ramahi dabbled in pencil and charcoal drawing as a high-school student in Dubai in the 1990s, and also began silk painting. She began painting on clay as a university student in Beirut and then paper and canvas. Her works are abstract human figures and she also creates colourful artwork of her poems.
Ali calls herself a poetess and dreamer who, in 2009, founded Atelier Poetica, a project that publishes Arab authors who write in a foreign language. She combines art, poetry, words and literature into chapbooks, including The Flower Girl, a book of her poems.
The works that will be included at the exhibition have been produced over two decades and include abstracts, still-life and landscapes painted on a variety of media. Ali will also present her poetry readings. Many of the paintings are interpretations of her poems.
The artists work closely with Future Centre for Special Needs in Abu Dhabi and have pledged to donate 50 per cent of the exhibition revenue to the centre, which is dedicated to improving the quality of life of individuals with special needs and their families.
• Opens January 9, then runs daily until January 23, 8am-8pm, The Space, twofour54, Park Rotana building, Khalifa Park, Abu Dhabi, www.facebook.com/thespaceAD