Born in 1988 in Damascus, Hala Aljaafari lives and works in Doha, Qatar. As a painter, she explores the human psyche, particularly delving into the dialogue between humans’ internal and external states. Aiming to depict moments when humans are unable to control or tame their thoughts, Aljaafari’s work resides at the intersection of daydreaming and memories. Through an exploration of a myriad of human reactions to these involuntary, albeit not necessarily unwanted thoughts, Alfaajari finds that these internal conversations form the core of her work.
Rooted in her deep interest in observing people and paying attention to the smallest possible details in their faces and body language, Aljaafari primarily paints people. Psychologically charged and vibrant, her work contains layers of meaning the artist invites viewers to unpack without necessarily providing them with a visual lexicon. Instead, she urges viewers to connect with their consciousness and delve deeper into their innerworlds. Having moved from self-portraiture to depicting others, she is currently working on a new body of work centred around conversations between people or their inner selves.
Aljaafari’s depictions of people are focused on exposing snappets of their inner worlds, filled with tension that is accentuated by her characters’ carefully articulated yet often muted evocative states. By focusing on the underlying emotions, Aljaafari maximises the potential for subtle anxiousness in her canvases, consequently inviting viewers to explore their own emotional states. While the majority of her work focuses on portraying emotions in more abstract, often boldly coloured settings, in few instances Aljaafari places her characters to recognisable situations, for instance at the deathbed in Turning Point (2023). Adopting a warm, inviting colour palette Aljaafari describes a painful yet poetic moment of losing a loved one. Through a gentle yet tense depiction of her characters’ emotional states Aljaafari’s practice forms an ongoing investigation into the self constructing characters that expose not only their vulnerability but also ours.
Aljaafari graduated with a BA in Interior Design from the International University of Science and Technology in Ghabagheb, Syria, in 2012. Her work has been exhibited in Qatar, Syria, Tunisia, UAE, and Turkey.
