Literature

‘I call these images “Personnages” because they are no-one in particular. They are anonymous – figments of my imagination, based on all the faces I have seen in my life. Curiously, they are all male and almost always old. They seem to wear a map of their lives on their faces.’ – Maliheh Afnan, Traces, Faces and Places, Al Saqi Books and Beyond Art Publication, 2010

Maliheh Afnan was a painter of wonderful but somber artworks in earth-coloured tones, yet her life experience has been quite colourful. Many paradoxes surface in her life.

She was born to Persian parents in Haifa, Palestine, where she enjoyed a happy childhood until her family had to leave their home in 1948. Since then, she has lived the life of an exile – first in Beirut, where she spent her student days; then Washington DC, where she studied and graduated from the Cocoran School of Art. Then came Kuwait and back to Beirut, before leaving for Paris, where she lived for over twenty years and held regular exhibitions. Since 1997 she has lived in London. She has moved many times, and yet remained, because of her sense of independence, something of a loner. Her “home”- her country, if you like – is essentially her apartment and studio, an elegant, minimalist space filled with few but carefully chosen objects.

While her paintings are mostly abstract and scriptural, her sketches, verging on caricature, are all figurative, free associations depicting outlines of strong women and weak men.  “The pen does it,” she explains. Patterns emerge, images of couples, family portraits, confrontations; as you look at them you may even hear them arguing. She describes her work as being about imaginary people whom she presents in a timeless, free-floating manner, not anchored within a defined space. They face eachother in dialogue, in silence or argument. Often there are only two, but sometimes there are three or four. This is also how she likes to see her friends – mostly one-to-one and at other times in intimate gatherings of like-minded people. These days she seldom goes out, but is on top of all the news, especially the current affairs of the Middle East, which annoy and amuse her in equal measure. Her characters argue, because there is much to argue about. Nothing is resolved.

-       Rose Issa, Maliheh Afnan: Familiar Faces (2013, Rose Issa Projects)