Nada Farhat, 29, is an artist, doctor and Emerson Graduate student studying Communication Management. Her artwork has received global acclaim, and she is currently working on a painting for Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah, which will be presented to him later this month in Washington, D.C. Through her many endeavors, Farhat strives to find a balance between her passion for art, pursuit of a medical career, and the responsibility of representing Saudi Arabian women in a new way.
Q: Where do you draw your inspiration from?
A. I draw my inspiration from my surroundings: the color of the sand and architectural facades. And sometimes I get my inspiration from something I did not see around me like the color green. I never really paint my emotion: my emotion is concealed. I didn’t want to be an open book, so I made my work abstract. That relationship with color and emotion is the dialogue.
Q: How would you describe your artwork?
A. It’s definitely happy and pretty. But you don’t want your work to be decorative—you want it to have a thesis.. It’s always a work in progress. During my journey, I will always be a student of life. I, myself, must always learn. If I reach this summit of ‘I know everything’, then life has ended.
Q: Is there one piece of art in particular that you identity with?
A.I used to work a lot with fire and integrating nature into the abstract. [Once] while I was burning one of my pieces, it literally turned into ashes. But what I did was I picked up the ashes, put them together, and framed it. And there it was. It was back to a piece—it told me what to do. That really is how life is. You put the pieces together and move forward. It’s not the picture you imagined, but it’s a new picture. That element of surprise is why I like to create.
Q: What types of conflicts—both internal and external—do you experience?
A. My struggle was and still is the choice between being a doctor or an artist. They are both full-time jobs, so what do you give up? …The choice is teaching me the possibilities of what I can do, but there are only 24 hours in a day. You have to pick and choose and prioritize. This journey isn’t easy.
Q: Who makes the journey easier for you?
A. My parents, and my brothers and sisters. I also have plenty of friends; I can never repay them for how they have stood up for me and appreciated my art. And then, there are my fans. You paint for yourself, that’s true, but you know that they are waiting, anticipating your next collection. It’s a wonderful feeling.
Q: What were some things you have struggled with?
A. I had problems facing the fact that my father had passed. How do you face death? Painting a collection for him was a dialogue that I had with my father—painting for him, to him. Another thing I had to deal with was moving from one region to another. When I did come back to the United States to do my residency, I had little time so much to do: I wanted to develop my art, but I was still in grief, and I was trying to adjust and deal with the culture shock. Is it time lost? Some people say yes. But for me, it is definitely time worth investing.
Q: What do you aspire to do in the future?
A. I think maybe having a foundation with different limbs underneath, like having an art gallery, an art school, and a series of art lectures--these things would be funded by the foundation, and I think they would have a more diverse message.
Q: Years from now, when you look back at your life what do you hope you have achieved?
A. As a public diplomat, you don’t always get the reward directly and that is something you have to give up if you want to pioneer in something. I don’t know what I have planned ahead of me, but I hope that what I have done creates a movement that resonates for generations to come.
Q: What is that movement?
A. Changing that stereotypical image of Arab women…If I get more involved with public advocacy and diplomacy, there’s definitely going to be an overlap with politics. I would definitely never do anything that would be offensive to my country or culture, but there are things that I don’t approve of there, and I think somebody has to voice it.
A: What don’t you approve of?
I don’t know what I would be rebellious against, but I just don’t like anyone standing in my way because I’m a woman or because I’m an Arab.
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