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WALLS, floors and ceilings were turned into a giant canvas as artists got the impression to make 'A Beautiful Mess'.
More than 20 Bahrain-based artists took part in a ten-day workshop to create the 'A Beautiful Mess' exhibition which was a swan song for the Al Riwaq Gallery at its temporary home in the Al A'ali Shopping Complex.
The gallery will return to its former premises in Adliya in October.
Organisers defined the exhibition as 'a statement of the creative engagement and the true collaboration between the gallery and the Bahraini art community'.
The walls, ceiling and floors of the gallery were splashed with different colours, shapes, forms and subjects as participants expressed their experiences of living as artists in Bahrain.
From wall murals to graffiti to abstract and modern, the gallery was a snapshot of various art mediums.
Ahmed Anan, 40 from Manama, made an impression of a man and woman amidst a splash of colour. He said: "My message is that you see a couple and think they have no problems in life but in reality they have so many things missing."
Maysam Nasser, 27, an architect from Jidd Ali, created a shadow person standing in real shoes. She said: "The painting is about existence, the observer defines an artist. The person is transparent here as he can only be seen in the right light."
Isa Swain, 26, part-time Radio Bahrain DJ, photographer and businessman from Adliya, worked with a photograph of an American woman taken in 1969.
He said: "The picture is of a woman from North Dakota and the picture is about what it means to be in Bahrain now compared to back when this was taken."
Spread out in the centre of the room on the floor was Dalia Al Mardi's graffiti.
The 26-year old architect from A'ali said: "I have practiced graffiti in the wild style and 3D form creating abstract art.
"I got obsessed with this form of art while studying architecture and I hope to use it some day in one of my projects."
One message which tugged at the heart strings of many visitors was in the work of artist Seana Mallen which depicted a child holding a large tray of food with a story printed alongside about a young American named Adam who visited a small village Jangwani in Kenya and was so affected by the hunger, bad sanitation, high crime rates and poverty he saw, that he went back to the States and collected money to build a shelter and provide food.
Seana said: "I visited this centre this June and was so touched ... the children had such broad and huge smiles with a plate bigger than themselves filled with food.
"I wanted to convey a positive message - we are so lucky and blessed with so many luxuries. We must appreciate the smaller things in life."
Yasmine Rasool, 23, an artist from Sanad, stood beaming in front of her painting that was a burst of bright colours and patterns as she explained: "This is a goodbye to the old location as we move to another one.
There is no point in being too upset about something as there is always a new chapter to look forward to."
The exhibition also included artists Bader Al Fardan, Habiba Al Mosawi, Jaffar Al Oraibi, Khaled Farhan, Maha Al Sahaf, Mariam Al Zain, Mohamed Elmeshad, Mohamed Sharkawi, Nada Al Saeed, Nadia Khalaf, Noor Al Bastaki, Safa Al Alawi, Sara Al Obeidi, Sarah Al Aradi, Shatha Al Wadi, Waheeda Malullah, and Yasmine Sharabi.
