PAINTING
Colour is my language of love. In our darkest hours, the need for reassurance that humanity will prevail becomes urgent. I am fascinated with colour, in all its nuances, energy, meaning and significance, and it is central to my expression. Through colour, I explore a wide spectrum of sensations; from despondency brought on by conflict and war to defiance in the face of adversity, to the persistence of hope, humanity and joy. Colour is the reason I paint, yet it is not colour with which I paint; it is my humanity, my soul. So, here is to changing the world, one colour at a time!
2025 Bustan of Love: A Palm Grove in My Heart (Nakhal Series) • 100x385cm Oil pigment on canvas. Private Collection New York.
2025 Asraar al-Nakheel: Fatima, Inaam, Firyal and Sabah (Nakhal Series) • 80x30cm (each) Oil on canvas.
2025 Dreams of a Golden City (Nakhal Series) • 160x140cm, Oil pigment stick on canvas. Exhibited in the solo exhibition Roots & Horizons: T/Racing Time, Contemporary Art Platform, Kuwait (11 Nov 2025 - 1 Jan 2026). Inspired by the enduring symbolism of the date palm, the Nakhal series transforms a deeply personal motif into a universal emblem of resilience and hope. Rooted in childhood memories of Baghdad’s palm groves, each Nakhla honours a woman whose strength mirrors the steadfastness of the palm herself. Through vibrant colour, flowing form, and emotional depth, the series celebrates unity, cultural memory, and the dialogue between heritage and universal human experience.
2023 From Darkness Emerges Light • 130x170cm (from a series of paintings inspired by Palestinian embroidery), exhibited at SILA: All That is Left to You (21 Sept 2005 - 05 Jan 2026), Maraya Art Centre, Sharjah, UAE.
2023 HOME: The White Orchid (Oppenheimer, Barbie & Kawkaba) • Oil pigment on canvas 180x160cm. Private Collection Doha Qatar.
During the Covid pandemic, with her studio inaccessible, Maysaloun Faraj turned to small works on paper, drawing her immediate surroundings. What began as a daily exercise in observation evolved into a way to process uncertainty, grief and stillness.
Lockdown contrasted sharply with her earlier large geometric abstractions in Paris, yet the restrictions became unexpectedly freeing. Revisiting her architectural training in Baghdad, she explored ‘home’ both as a physical and spiritual space. Later, she expanded these studies into larger oil paintings, creating the HOME series.
These works form a quiet, contemplative visual diary of a surreal global moment, and mark her recognition of London as ‘home’, intertwining past and present with resilience, belonging and renewal.
2021 The Blue Tulip (HOME 55) • 150x130cm Oil pigment on canvas. Private Collection Houston Texas
The Blue Tulip is the second in a series of large oil on canvas paintings inspired by Maysaloun Faraj’s HOME series, begun at the start of the pandemic. Before this, her residencies at the Cité des Arts in Paris in 2015/17/18 sparked a body of work rooted in geometric abstraction as she immersed herself in the art of Kazimir Malevich, El Lissitzky, Sonia and Robert Delaunay, Wassily Kandinsky and others, whose works were within reach in the vibrant Marais district. Time spent at home during the lockdowns inspired a series of small drawings capturing intimate views of her living space and the objects within. Though seldom the main subject, these objects shaped the compositions as she continued to explore the power of colour and form, later reinterpreting these timely drawings on a larger scale. It seems that tulips come in almost every colour except blue.💙
2022 HOME2: 33 • Oil pastels on canvas 41x51cm. Presented as part of the solo-exhibition HOME Lockdown 2020-22 (9-22 June 2022) at Mark Hachem Gallery, Paris.
2022 The Orange • Oil pigment on canvas 140x160cm
2022 Teatime with Dates and Matisse (HOME16) • Oil pigment on canvas 165x145cm. Private Collection London
2019 REVOLUTION • Acrylic on mixed media. Private Collection London
2015 Bird Symphony • Acrylic on paper/canvas Paris. MANSOURIA FOUNDATION Private Collection Paris.
“Bird Symphony is a collection of drawings created during my first residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts Paris, hosted by the Al Mansouria Foundation from August to December 2015. The body of work consists of fifteen paintings in acrylic and coloured pencil on paper, made in response to the tragic mass migration witnessed across the world. Sadly, it is often in the name of Freedom and Democracy and in the name of Religion that atrocities are committed, leaving innocent lives in search of safety beyond their homelands. Forced to leave everything behind and to risk their very lives in the process, they flee abundant lands, precious homes and loved ones, carrying nothing but sorrow-filled hearts and treasured memories, with no certainty of what the future may hold.” mad world. Yet still... in the words of Amos Lee "Nothing is more powerful than beauty in a wicked world."