Canvas: The home is often imagined as safe and nostalgic, but also as a site of longing or loss. How do you explore this duality in your practice?
Nour Elbasuni: In the process of creating an artwork, I tend to delve into spaces that I’m depicting mentally. I can almost feel the subject matter emoting, interacting with its environment and emitting the feeling of warmth that I want to communicate. A painting will go through the process of creation and many changes, until it has been developed enough to have a life of its own, be on display or go on to find its way in the world of exhibitions or collections, where it is appreciated for what it is and where it is valued dearly.
Our living spaces, much like artworks, are our own daily creations, built and formed by our perceptions. Through time, they get to carry the energy of life and are influenced by our inner states. As we live within them, a certain kind of familiarity and closeness develops, to a point at which they begin to feel as if they have a life of their own, one that is watered and nurtured by what we project onto them. In these spaces, safety and nostalgia – as well as loss and longing – are feelings that we all experience to varying degrees. Combining and experiencing the range of these feelings, and being mindful of them or embracing them, unifies the duality and informs growth. It is one of the ideas that I care to communicate in my works.
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