Hanan Ghanem, born and raised in Alexandria, is a creative artist and painter who creates exquisite and original pieces. She spent her early life working in television and media along with being a devoted art-lover.
While the Egyptian revolution gave artistic inspiration to many young Egyptians, the way it inspired Ghanem was very unique; the images of women protesting and the continued activism on the streets galvanized her to paint again with her collection, “Colourful Passion”. “During the revolution, when I saw the women in the square and on the streets, I wanted to do something to support them. Just like there are many writers who write about women, I decided to draw women, to be their voice – or their image,” says Ghanem. “When I draw a woman, I think about her condition, I imagine what her circumstances are, what her life is like, what her struggles are. Then I imagine her features, where she is from, and I begin to draw.”
Her art is a tribute to “the force that makes us, to the diversity and beauty of all the women who struggle to survive the boundaries of their existence, an ode to the goddesses we are born to be and a celebration of that feminine force that is nature at its purest.
According to Ghanem, the canvas is the mirror that allows “her identity to be emphatically personified”. Her journey is one of all women really. She stands for the female force that gives strength; the force that cultivates nature with an endless passion.
Ghanem’s art has been praised in countries such as Canada and in a multitude of galleries worldwide. Her art speaks for itself. Even those without an eye for art can feel the emotions she puts into it. “If you’re going to paint a flower without feeling it, it will look like a pretty flower, but it will remain just that – shallow and meaningless. But if you paint it with feeling, the flower itself will reveal its depth and that depth will be transmitted to the viewer.” Ghanem says.
Ghanem’s work stands out when she takes her original art pieces and turns them into fashion. She, along with other artists, has a collection called ‘Three Fifty Nine’, which has different varieties of art on clothes that take people’s breaths away and make them fall completely in love. Ghanem’s artistic, fashion sense defiantly stands out in the collection; her work is recognized anywhere.
What makes her art unique is her mixing of emotions and ideas together to create something new; her art is a mixture of feminism, power, emotion, and simply not knowing what’s next or what to expect. When you look at the faces she paints, you immediately feel the power that women have. Her almost life-size canvases show faces of diverse women from different cultural backgrounds, reflecting expressive features and symbolic points and using a mixture of glowing and gloomy colours. Ghanem’s unique talent lies in her ability to create life-like portraits.
Ghanem’s pieces combine intensity, beauty and a dramatic use of colours which all come together to make very individually-engaging artworks that’ll stand out anywhere.
