Tala Abu Nuwar
A Jordanian self-taught artist whose work is inspired by her own quest for spiritual enlightenment.
Born in 1975 in Amman, Jordan, Tala Abu Nuwar who after a spiritual awakening decided to leave her corporate job to follow her dream of becoming the artist she feels she was meant to be.
In July 2020, when the whole world was experiencing a global pandemic, Tala and her family moved to the United States. During lockdown, Tala found solace in her art. She started for the first time creating on paper and fabric, using Arabic calligraphy and contemporary mixed media.
Tala has exhibited her work internationally, with shows across the United States, Jordan, Bahrain, Italy, Scotland, and Spain. Through a strong online presence and a community of over 18,000 followers, her artwork has reached collectors in cities around the world, with a particularly strong presence in the United States, the United Kingdom, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain.
She currently lives and works in Lexington, Massachusetts, with her children.
From Tala
I am fascinated by the mystic world of Sufism and my artwork is a clear reflection of that. I follow my intuition when creating art and have a passion for creating art and mixing it with mysticism, Arabic poetry, yoga, and the enchanting Sufi world of Rumi. I love exploring with different colors and mediums and my goal is to awaken my heart and hopefully inspire others to close the eye of the self and awaken the eye of the soul!
I am proud of my Arab roots; my father is Jordanian and my mother is Palestinian from Gaza. But I also feel universal, I kind of fit in and feel at home wherever I go. A transformative event in my life took place at the age of 15, when my mother died from cancer within a year of diagnosis. Despite the anger and pain my mother’s death brought, it also taught me about resilience and how to accept life on life's terms and most importantly that I am not alone! I feel grateful for the amount of time my mom spent on this earth, and lucky to have witnessed my parents' love story, which I feels was the greatest one of all time.
I started my art journey by creating new media boxes using layered, moveable pieces combined with raw Arabic calligraphy and eclectic materials like wood, acrylic, glass, mirrors, and fabric. Each piece tells a unique story of spiritual insight and is reflective of my personal quest for spiritual enlightenment and Oneness, along with my desire to share it with those around.
On the Sisterhood Collection
“The works created by Tala Abunuwar - Kittaba - represent the magical inner world of the artist which she has the pleasure of sharing with the people around her. Drawing inspiration from different realities including Islamic mysticism, Rumi's teachings, Arabic poetry, and yoga philosophy she creates unique works, which communicate profound messages. "Sisterhood" is a work of contemporary art from 2021 made with mixed media technique. Using decorative paper and fabric, Tala shaped women with different silhouettes. Against the gray background the bodies of the protagonists stand out in all their beauty: the different cuttings that compose them have different patterns of which the blue in different shades is the protagonist.
The title of the work is very evocative: the relationship between women is often ruined by envy and selfishness. This would not happen if every woman understood the importance of sisterhood: mutual help, exchange of thoughts, sharing of experiences and emotions; these are the ingredients for inner growth and the evolution of the world. Each of us has a thousand facets just like the different clippings of which the protagonists are composed; each of our qualities must be cultivated, each of our defects must be improved through our own strength, but also thanks to precious advice that we must be able to grasp. The quote from the famous poet Rumi states that only with the heart can you touch the sky. Tala paints with her heart and in that moment, she completely escapes from reality to travel to her beautiful world. While we look at her works, we are enveloped by a whirlwind of emotions which, as Rumi says, makes us walk on air.”
