The artist with poetic licence
Calligraphy inspired by Mohammed bin Rashid’s verse
UMM AL QUWAIN // Emirati artist Safia Al Mahrizi aims for her work to be not just visually pleasing but also to promote the Arabic language. She seeks to achieve this through her calligraphy of the poetry of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
Ms Al Mahrizi, a project manager at the Roads and Transport Authority, decided to create her artworks because she was inspired by Sheikh Mohammed’s poetry and his efforts to promote reading. “After Sheikh Mohammed launched the Year of Reading initiative this year, I wanted to make a mark in the UAE regarding the initiative,” she said.
Ms Al Mahrizi’s calligraphy has been exhibited in Umm Al Quwain and she hopes to exhibit her work in all seven emirates.
Her artwork has sold well and she has donated some of the proceeds to the Year of Reading Centre in Umm Al Quwain.
“It is right that I am selling my paintings, but I specified that 30 per cent of the amount be given to the centre in Umm Al Quwain to support this important initiative and the Arabic language,” she said.
Ms Al Mahrizi has been painting since she was 10, focusing on portraits and landscapes. But she later turned to calligraphy because of her love of the Arabic language.
“When I was a child it was just a talent and I have started developing it through participating in several training courses for fine arts,” she said. Ms Al Mahrizi had planned to study art at university and become an art teacher, but she instead pursued a degree in family science and became a civil servant.
She did not, however, give up on practising art. “About 18 months ago I decided to start drawing by using Arabic letters to support the language,” she said. Besides Sheikh Mohammed’s poems, she also hopes to use the work of other Arab poets in her callligraphy. Mera Mohammed Khalifa, Umm Al Quwain’s director of tourism development, said Ms Al Mahrizi’s artwork was an unusual but effective way of promoting Arabic. Half of Ms Al Mahrizi’s 20 paintings that were exhibited in Umm Al Quwain were sold.
One of the buyers was Sheikh Saif bin Rashid Al Mualla, the emirate’s chairman of economic development. “The exhibition was excellent,” he said. “I bought the paintings firstly because of my admiration for the drawings, as they combined art with poems. Second, I wanted to support and encourage Emiratis and talented artists.”