Painting blind: Olivia Boa

Burj Al Arab (Pixels) by Olivia Boa. (Courtesy: Monda Gallery)

These paintings come in pairs. The first is completed in the artist’s signature style, using a bright palette of pastel blues, pinks, purples and greens. She has painted the scene, be it the Burj Khalifa or a natural landspace, overlaid with neat squares, meant to symbolise the pixels of a digital photograph. The second however, is different. She has painted with the same colours as the first but has done it whilst being blindfolded. The effect is a much more emotional, abstract and many might say, beautiful canvas. Look close enough and you can even see her fingerprints where she has used her hands to guide her.

Olivia Boa is a French-Algerian artist whose third son was born blind and therefore inspired her to attempt her painting without using her sight.

I was fascinated by her story and by her works, which I discovered on a recent trip to the Sofitel hotel on The Palm, Jumeirah in Dubai.

The paintings are being displayed by Monda Gallery, a new gallery in Dubai that functions only online and in pop-up venues such as this one.

If you would like to find out more about these paintings and the gallery then click here