“CONVERSATION” by Obaid

OBAID, “CONVERSATION”, PRINT

SIZE 21 x 30 CM

Conversation

My name is Obaid, a professional sculptor, architect and visual artist from Yemen. When I was seven, I began creating drawings and paintings with my sisters. The three of us grew up encouraging, teaching and learning from each other. We all studied different crafts of art at university. I received a bachelor’s degree in architecture, partly inspired by Da Vinci’s brilliance to intertwine art with science.

Throughout the early stages of the war, I stayed in Yemen as a teacher and activist and doing all in my power to stand up for my country which was becoming more lost by the day. But, like so many thousands of others like me, it was my art and my activism that finally also forced me to leave, or face death.

Throughout my life and my journey, I have learned there are several instruments of our humanity that can be used to help achieve peace. The most important of all of these I consider to be art. Any type of artistic creation is capable of carrying the messages of humanitarianism, politics and basic civil rights to everyone in the world. In my art, I try to use a wide variety of materials to represent that all of us are capable of coming together to create the foundation which will establish the true image of what we wish our world to be.

I am continually creating my new life, and hope soon I will find enough stability and success to free my family from the war and dangers in Yemen. Artistically, my life’s goal is to create the world’s largest mural.

There is conversation that occurs between two stages of the growth of flowers, which represent our brains and mentality – how the more time passes our awareness grows and the beauty of our thinking and our vision of the future. Even though we’re going through a difficult phase, we’re going to be as beautiful as this flower, the desire to live and live freely.

Follow Obaid on Instagram @odoz7