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DINA FAWAKHIRI
PRETTY POISONOUS
20 March to 17 April 2018
Through my art, I explore the relationship between medium and emotion-from the softness of watercolors to the sharpness of charcoal. With a preference for monochromatic pencil drawings and delicately shaded sketches, it’s no surprise, then, that much of my work celebrates smooth curves and feminine forms. I love to capture the intricate details of feminine objects -from birds, flowers, and fruit to the complexities of the female human form.
But softness can be a deceptive armor.
In many ways, my work is a cathartic expression of the struggle between society’s expectations of femininity as something gentle, docile, and unassuming, and the quiet intensity that lingers beneath the surface. My subjects are stripped down, presented without distraction or distortion, so that these repressed emotions -hunger, desire, suffocation, oppression -can freely burst forth from the paper.
I embrace the idea that what is gentle can also be powerful: I balance out smooth, confident lines with intricacy, perfectionism, and a labor intensive attention to detail. In addition to working frequently with watercolors, pencils, and ink, I also create digital art that explores more surrealist concepts -once again finding a connection between medium and subject matter.
Flowers are usually taken at face value; they are beautiful and, outside of their natural habitat, are most often used as decorative elements or shows of affection. In Pretty Poisonous,
Artist Dina Fawakhiri places an unexpected lens on these common creatures.
If beauty is only skin deep, then flowers are likewise deceiving. By portraying flowers in delicate but extremely detailed views, the artist draws attention to the hidden toxicity that these flowers contain. In this newly commissioned series, their hyper-stylized form and contrasting color alludes to elegance and attraction, while simultaneously painting a surreal picture of seduction
Dina Fawakhiri
Dina is an artist, illustrator and designer based in Amman, Jordan. After earning her BA in Graphic Design, Dina worked in the advertising industry as Creative Director to one of Jordan’s most prominent agencies, with numerous awards to her name. 15 years
later she left the field to pursue a freelance career as an illustrator. Her artistic practice has spanned several mediums and styles, beginning with her preferred black and white perfected forms that eventually morphed into digital color art inspired by surrealist conceptual explorations. Her incredible patience, appreciation for faultless forms and
labour-intensive attention to minute details were all indicative of a budding signature style that continue to inform Dina’s creative processes to this day.
