To create art is a calling. Ask any artist about when they will retire, and they will likely retort, ‘Why would I retire?’ For some artists, it calls to them from childhood, and they spend their whole lives making art. For others, life takes them on a different path before art calls for them once, and they find the artist within them once more.
Both could be said to apply to Egyptian artist Eman Khalifa, who has had a thirty-year career as an entrepreneur and as a single mother raising a family, but art and creativity have always been there. She has created art throughout her life and opened an art gallery in her twenties. After a life juggling creativity and corporate life, she is now bringing her life experiences to her creativity. Art is informed by the artist’s life, so when we look at her work, we see the products of the full life she has lived.
Her seascapes capture beautiful moments, but are they also a reflection of her emotional state, calm seas potentially reflecting an escape from a hectic life or a moment of serenity within a busy day? Is the large wave coming towards us a sign of those days we all have when we feel overwhelmed by the many tasks on our plate, when we rise up to grab some air before the next wave takes us under?
It’s the duality of water that keeps artists coming back to it: the sound of gently lapping waves is soothing, but it belies a power that can destroy cities or, over time, carve out the Grand Canyon. It has inspired many artists, from the calm waters of paintings by Claude Monet and JMW Turner to the shark-infested waters of Winslow Homer’s ‘The Gulf Stream’ and Hokusai’s Great Wave off Kanagawa, which dwarfs the vessel within it.
On a personal level, it relates to the seas off Alexandria in Egypt, which are famed for their turquoise colour, and their serenity continues to inspire Khalifa’s paintings. She also lived on the West Coast of the USA, another area famed for its waters and in some of her works, you do get the feeling you may be looking out of a car window driving down Highway 1 in California.
Water features in her abstract works, and we lose ourselves in the tumultuous currents of ‘Deep Wave’ and ‘Rupture’. It’s as if the paintings are pulling us under the surface to discover new worlds and new perspectives on how to see the world around us, as the water refracts the light.
While water is only one theme within her abstract portfolio, the themes remain elemental, as we see works referencing the particular light of each season, the rocks of a canyon, and the fiery, explosive work ‘Phoenix’.
In keeping with the natural world, Khalifa has painted floral works that are aesthetically beautiful, but as with all natural motifs, they come loaded with symbolism. Flowers bloom, and they look and smell great, but they are short-lived. Just as all experience and life itself are fleeting within deep time, they serve as reminders of our own mortality, much like the flowers in 17th-century Dutch vanitas paintings.
The artists’ landscapes have a dream-like quality to them that gives them a spiritual feel, as if this hazy world, with its surreal colour palettes, has taken us into another world that resembles ours but isn’t fully grounded in reality. It follows in the footsteps of famous female surrealists, including Leonora Carrington and Frida Kahlo.
We see the results of her having lived in Egypt, the US, and the UK, which led her works to draw inspiration from Western Art History while also capturing the light that could only be found in Egypt.
Art is a reflection of life, and as Eman Khalifa’s life and art evolve, we get to see what drives, motivates and inspires her. The natural world will always remain her focus as it acts as her totem and guiding star, keeping her grounded and reminding her, and us, that as long as we keep appreciating its beauty, it’s a daily reminder that we’re still alive.
More information on Eman Khalifa may be found on her website and Instagram.
All images are the copyright of Eman Khalifa.
