Naso Art Journal

On Presence, Surrender, and Meeting Herself

Written by Nayla

When I sit down with Wedad Al-Bakr, we are at Green Bar, on the island we both call home. We are seated inside, close to the glass doors, with a clear view of the sun going down over the water.

“I thought it would be nice to be away from my studio, overlooking the sea. Sometimes a change of scenery helps you see yourself more clearly” she says.

With a background in Arabic literature and a diploma in fine art, she describes the impulse to paint as something that felt embedded in her. What followed was a gradual process of unearthing, through which the work became increasingly intuitive, inward-looking, and closely attuned to creativity itself.

“The art that I am making is helping me to introduce myself to myself,” she says.

***Revealing,*** Oil on canvas, 2025, Courtesy of the artist. Image by Girish Vapappil.

On the Turning Point

Wedad identifies 2018 as the year in which her relationship with art changed decisively. Until then, her practice had developed alongside teaching, curating, organising gatherings and lectures, and sustained involvement within the artistic community.

“Somehow I began to feel unfulfilled by these frameworks, and wanted to understand my work with more intentionality.”

The shift redirected her attention towards her own practice, opening a period of self-discovery. “I felt inspired to explore my interests, reading, researching, writing within a private and nurturing space that I created on my own terms.”

The studio became a place to retreat to, although Wedad hesitates to call it isolation. She describes this period instead as a cocoon, a space in which she could develop a closer relationship with herself and the work, away from expectation. What emerged were paintings she describes as being “unburdened by performance.”

“If I ever want to meet my authentic self, I can meet her in my paintings, where performance falls away.”

***The Rabbit Hole***, Mixed media on cotton rag, 2024, Courtesy of the artist

On the Canvas as a Stage

For Wedad, the content of the work is something that her process arrives at, rather than begins with. “The canvas is the stage,” she says. “You set the background, and you unearth it in a way. And then all these conversations and dialogues, they appear.”

She often prepares several canvases at once, building their surfaces through successive layers without deciding what they will become. Some remain in progress for a year or more, their figures emerging gradually and only when the work allows it. “I don’t rush it at all,” she says.“Sometimes I just want to get out of my studio… then the painting will call me,” she says, describing the relationship as “a constant and rich dialogue,” shaped by patience, respect, and reverence.

Work in progress, Courtesy of the artist

On Creativity and Presence

When asked about artists or external influences, Wedad replies simply, “For a while, I think I have just been connecting directly to creativity itself, and there is a kind of devotion to that approach,” she says.

This relationship to creativity is closely tied to Wedad’s deeply held spirituality.

“What influences me is the Quran, honestly,” she says. “And how creation on smaller scales and on larger scales all lead into one thing… which is Tawheed, or oneness.”

For all the depth with which she approaches the work, enjoyment remains fundamental to the process. “I’m having fun painting and I’m just enjoying the process,” she says. “I’m doing it just as an expression of being.”

On Opening

When I ask Wedad where her practice is headed, the certainty that has guided much of our conversation gives way to contemplation.

“Wow. Where my practice is headed,” she begins.

She does not offer a destination. Instead, she speaks about reaching a point where the work can begin to move beyond the studio. After about three years of retreating into the privacy of her space, she feels ready for the work to be encountered again. “Some might ask ‘where have you been?’ I am here. I’ve been deep in the work.”

Earlier in our conversation, Wedad speaks of the many artists who remain “hidden jewels in their studios,” producing work away from public attention. There is something particularly fortunate about speaking with her at the moment she is choosing to emerge from her own space.

Talking about her work, Wedad says, “I want people to see it, to feel it. I’m allowing that now.”

Images Courtesy of the Artist.

The full interview is exclusively in print in Issue 4.

Words Copyright of Naso Art Journal

Wedad Al-Bakr