The female artists behind two new murals at Souq Madinat Jumeirah

Amalie Beljafla and Amrita Sethi share artistic takes on modern Emirati culture through their works

Amalie Beljafla working on her surreal mural 'Al Noor'. All images courtesy of the artists and Souk Madinat Jumeirah

Amalie Beljafla painted the image on a dome in Souk Madinat Jumeirah

The work features white falcons and butterflies encircling a calligraphy central element with the phrase "al noor"

Detail of Amalie Beljafla's mural 'Al Noor'

The artist Amalie Beljafla spent six weeks completing the work with the help of a team from her design company

Detail of Amalie Beljafla's mural 'Al Noor'

Amrita Sethi working on one of her murals 'Halla Walla', which shows a high-five greeting between an Emirati man and woman

Detail of Amrita Sethi's 'Halla Walla'

Amrita Sethi is working on another mural titled 'Khashmak', which depicts the traditional "nose kiss" greeting in Emirati culture

The desert night sky is full of messages. Bedouins know this all too well. For generations, they have depended on the moon and stars to help them navigate the desert.

Artist Amalie Beljafla celebrates this facet of Emirati Bedouin heritage in her new mural Al Noor, translated as The Light.

The 25-metre-long work, stretched across a dome in Souq Madinat Jumeirah, depicts a dramatic and fantastical scene. White falcons and blue butterflies surround a calligraphic centerpiece with the phrase “al noor” in Arabic swirling in repeated patterns. Their backdrop is a bold fuchsia and purple sky.

Beljafla, who is half-Emirati and half-Norwegian, incorporated the aurora or Northern Lights into the sky as a nod to her dual heritage and, as she explains, “to symbolise the diversity in the UAE”.

“I have a vibrant and bold colour palette in nearly all my art works. The beautiful thing about art is everyone will have their own experience, but I would love the work to have a positive impact,” she says. “This piece sets you on a magical journey and it serves as a reminder that you are always guided and taken care of by God and the universe.”

Amalie Beljafla working on her mural 'Al Noor'

Her previous works have explored religious unity in the UAE, and she fuses elements of Islam, Christianity and Judaism onto her canvasses. Rich calligraphy and motifs of anthropomorphised animals recur in her surrealist-style pieces. “I use a lot of symbolism in my work,” she says.

Beljafla spent six weeks completing her work with the help of the team from her design company Troll Designs.

She is one of seven artists involved in the Souq Seven project by Souq Madinat Jumeirah, which has commissioned painters to create works around the venue.

The initiative was launched in late 2019, but the execution of the artworks have been delayed due to closures caused by the pandemic.

Another artist included in the project is Amrita Sethi. A Kenyan-born Brit of Indian origin, Sethi grew up creating art, citing her architect father as an important influence.

For her commission, she has created Halla Walla, a vibrant mural illustrating an Emirati man and woman raising their hands together for a high-five.

Amrita Sethi with her mural ''Halla Walla'

Painted at the entrance of the souq, it stands in contrast to the traditional design of the centre, which is modeled after a Middle Eastern marketplace.

Instead of the usual “marhaba” greeting, Sethi says she chose the phrase “halla walla” to give the piece a more colloquial feel that would resonate with expats and Emiratis alike. “It’s like a warm welcome to the people of the souq,” she says.

There is more to the painting than meets the eye. The surrounding forms as well as the subjects, which are rendered in elongated lines, are shaped according to the sound wave produced by an audio recording of the phrase. Beside the work is the QR code that allows visitors to listen to it and see the waves for themselves.

This mix of sound and sight is something Sethi developed years ago with her Voice Note series. The artist records a voice note, whether it is the name of a city or a person, and then replicates its shape onto the canvas, adding elements relating to the word. For example, the word "Dubai" contains the Burj Khalifa, Emirates Towers, and the Palm Jumeirah, all curving and stretching to form the soundwave.

She has done the same for portraits. First, she asks the subject questions about their personality and character, records their name on a voice note, and then attempts to express these qualities within the audio waves.

Currently, she is finishing a second mural Khashmak, referring to the famous "nose kiss" used as a greeting in Emirati culture. "There's so much that expats don't really appreciate about the richness of Emirati culture, so I wanted to highlight that a little and not do something that everyone sees," the artist explains.

Sethi's Khashmak is set to be completed by the third week of June.