KALEIDOSCOPE

“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 OIL ON ALUMINUM PANEL 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 o Boston, which laid the basis for her fascination with living forms and, ultimately, her decision to become a figuative painter. Humans are El-Bermani’s inspiration for this painting, in which she juxtaposes a free-floting red window pane between two seemingly different women. The window’s reflection illumintes 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 ats 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-finart.com and on Instagram @aliapainter.