Breath of Life, Roots of Unity

Artists Reception on Wednesday, January 14th from 4 - 7pm

Salima Raoui
Paintings on Canvas

Biography of the Artist

Born in Morocco, Salima Raoui's paintings synthesize Arabic calligraphic expression with the brilliant colors and textures of her North African Berber and Andaluci roots. Raoui inscribes the word Allah repetitively in free style script along with other symbols characteristic of her oeuvre during the act of dhikr, or the Sufi meditative process of the remembrance of God. The resulting visually rich abstractions express her deepest inner intuitive voice and her surrender to the sounds, colors and emotions of the moment. With no barriers, Raoui's work gives everyone permission to touch their souls.

Salima Raoui studied Interior Design and Art History in Brussels, Belgium and Fashion Business at the Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC. Raoui's paintings have been shown in many group and solo shows all over New York and Morocco and are part of several international corporate collections.

Reviews of her work have been published in the New York Times, Sotheby's Domain Magazine and have been exclusively featured on Moroccan TV - Journal Televise 2M. Her work is mentioned in the contributing chapter "Sacred Calligraphy in Contemporary Art" by Ayse Turgut in the edited volume Word of God, Art of Man: The Qur'an and its Creative Expressions (Oxford University Press).

When Raoui is not producing paintings, she leads Art and Personal Growth Workshops internationally.

Artist's Statement

My life/art work is to clear all channels, to submit to the sound, the color and the texture of the moment.

It may take the form of childish calligraphy calling endlessly on Allah, it may disguise itself in a symbolic unknown language only my fingers can feel and transcribe. It may also be just textures, fabric, paper, layer of paint over other layers, re-enacting centuries of Berber rugmaking instilled in my hands and blood eternally. Yes, "Put this design in Your Carpet."

I am accepting, I leave my judgement at the door like my shoes before entering the sacred spaces.

The power of color, repetitive scripts, meditative gesture, inner mantras, hand on channeling is ultimately what I wish to translate for the viewer to feel all that powerful love and light and its healing energy.

As I paint like in Reiki, I receive. I am only an open channel. I let life movement like the spiral take me on the endless dance of the heart and the soul.

As a result, my being is fully nourished and I enter a state of gratitude like after a prayer, a dhikr meditation.
Salima Raoui, 2009