D E PA R T M E N T S K A L E I D O S C O P E
“I am a person of color of Arab descent. I can bridge between racial identities. I am pushing back on the idea that we are different. It’s more about how we are similar.” — Alia El-Bermani
ALIA EL-BERMANI
UNSEEN CONNECTIONS, 2020 O I L O N A L U M I N U M PA N E L 36 X 60 INCHES
MORE SIMILAR THAN DIFFERENT
BY CHARLOTTE RUSSELL
Artist, teacher and independent curator Alia El-Bermani grew up in a scientific household outside of Boston, which laid the basis for her fascination with living forms and, ultimately, her decision to become a figurative painter. Humans are El-Bermani’s inspiration for this painting, in which she juxtaposes a free-floating red
window pane between two seemingly different women. The window’s reflection illuminates how we are more similar than different. The windows, themselves, came out of a previous body of work about El-Bermani’s mother’s passing. They symbolize another plane of existence, and suggest that by alternating our way of existence, we can come together to find the unseen connection.
An Apex resident, El-Bermani teaches classes out of her studio at Anchorlight in Raleigh. She received her bachelor of fine arts from the Laguna College of Art and Design in Laguna Beach, California. View more
of her work at the Anchorlight Spring Open House on May 7, 4–7 p.m., online at alia-fineart.com and on Instagram @aliapainter.
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