A woman painting women

Exhibition of more than 70 of the artist's works at Sharjah Art Museum in the UAE includes rare works from her first ever show in 1947

“When I paint, I am happy and I am in another world.” Those were the words of the Algerian Modernist Baya Mahieddine (1931-98), known simply as Baya, who is being paid tribute in a retrospective at the Sharjah Art Museum in the United Arab Emirates. Baya is the latest prominent Arab artist to have their career highlighted in the museum’s annual Lasting Impressions series and it is the first museum exhibition of her work in the Middle East outside of her home country.

The show features more than 70 works that burst with life and joy, expressed by a bold sense of colour and contour. “What is special about this exhibition is that it spans Baya’s practice from the 1940s to the 1990s, and therefore includes examples from various phases of her career, and also of the various subject matters she tackled,” explains the co-curator Suheyla Takesh.

Baya’s painterly style is expressive, depicting female characters that sing and dance in ornamented dresses, serenaded by musical instruments, flowers, fish and birds in leafy scenes. “This is a woman painting women, so the representation you get is more personal and is not skewed by a male or a colonial lens,” says Takesh.