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Almost 30 unique art pieces were highlighted in neon at the second anniversary celebration of Bahrain’s first art gallery specialising in street art.
The event was held over three days at Art Attack Krew’s (ATK) studio in Juffair and although the exhibition has ended, the pieces will continue to adorn the walls at the space for the next few weeks.
A total of 19 artists experimented with different mediums and explored themes from environmentalism to music in creating pieces that changed dramatically as soon as they were bathed in ultraviolet (UV) lights.
“Lately I’ve been learning more about climate change and how we are damaging our planet, and I was trying my best to raise awareness about the whole situation,” Maryam Mansoor, 22, told GulfWeekly, when talking about her piece If She Dies, We Die.
“This piece was inspired by the event that was hosted in Dana Mall by Save Soil. When they told us to do something related to nature, I decided to send a message through my artwork, since trees and plants have a huge role in providing the oxygen we breathe and other important things that are essential for life, hurting them means hurting ourselves.”
Maryam’s piece centres on a female face within a tree, symbolising Mother Nature, and how her roots are connected to her clipped branches.
“My painting is all acrylic, I used normal and fluorescent colours for our neon-themed exhibition,” she added.
“I tried to place the glowing colours in a way that shows that she is scratched and hurt on the inside, when seen under UV light, and that the damage we see may be even worse than we think.”
With Maryam choosing to go external and creating art around a cause meaningful to her, others went internal, with pieces stemming from their passion.
Çağla Akpinar created an ironic piece reflecting her support for the arts, while Muller Boucard created Jazz, a beautiful piece inspired by his love for the musical form.
Vijin Rameshan decided to explore alternate and abstract mindscapes with his piece Realm of Reality, while Shalini Pillai pays homage to art driven by passion, with her piece The Calling.
Other artists who participated include ATK founder Aref Guloom, Salman Aljar, Sarah Toblani, Zahra Almukthar, Isa Mubarak and Yusuf Zainal.
