In her latest exhibition "The Silk Road", Algerian visual artist Salima Ayadi presents in honor of her cultural heritage 19 paintings and 30 scarfs inspired by Islamic architecture, ceramic patterns, pottery, and calligraphy.

 

The exhibition opened at the National Museum of Antiquities and Islamic Art in Algiers on January 22 and lasted till February 13.

 

Ayadi graduated from the School of Fine Arts of Algiers with a degree in visual communication in 1982. For more than 37 years, she has produced silk-painted works, a technique to which she was introduced by an artist friend while on a trip to Switzerland. She has created artworks and scarves for national institutions such as the Senate and the People’s National Assembly, or for large companies including Sonatrach, Sonelgaz, Air Algeria, to name a few.

 

Each painting is created over a series of stages, each with its own potential pitfalls. Ayadi says that her selection of colors, reds, blues, and greens are particular favorites, is based on the idea behind each painting. Once the selection process is complete, she can get to work, an often-painstaking process.