Each of these paintings began with a face that held me captive. The painting process is almost like diving into the essence of the individual on a deep level. They would not let me look away. People caught in thought, in prayer, in the moment before speech. Some are titled for the qualities their subjects evoked. All of them are attempts to paint what presence looks like. They are the most personal thread in my work, running alongside the Hu Collection from the beginning and continuing still.
ROAM FREE 2024
ALIGN 2024 / 1446 H
(PRIVATE COLLECTION)
TRUTH 2018
(PRIVATE COLLECTION)
FAITH 2024
(PRIVATE COLLECTION)
NAQSH 2022
(PRIVATE COLLECTION)
CONTEMPLATION 2023
Oil on canvas, 50 × 60 cm after the sculpture of the poet Chakhrukhadze by Iakob Nikoladze
MATEEN 2025
SURRENDER 2018
(PRIVATE COLLECTION)
I came to portraiture through watching people in prayer or contemplation. The quality of a face that has gone quiet inside inspires me. Some of these portraits carry Arabic titles: Haq (truth); Mateen (steadfast); Naqsh (the engraved mark). Others needed no translation. What they share is the thing I am always painting, whatever the subject: the inner life, made briefly visible.
“The first pieces you showed me were your portraits, and the soulfulness of those pieces really captivated me - especially those of people who seemed in the middle of thought or prayer. They make me feel still and centered when I look at them.”
The Portraits run alongside my other collections - the Hu Collection, a meditation on the 99 Names of Allah, and Athar, nine miniatures on memory and trace.