Maria Saleh Mahameed: Peace of Mind
Recipient of the Rappaport Prize for a Promising Artist, 2023
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Maria Saleh Mahameed (b. 1990, Umm el Fahem; lives and works in Ein Mahel) presents a body of work created during the months of war. The daughter of a Ukrainian mother and an Arab father from Umm el Fahem, Saleh Mahameed often explores her complex identity, reflecting a charged, tangled political and social reality. Her monumentalcharcoal-on-canvas painting installations are rich in drama and veiled in mystery. They are underpinned by an intuitive, physical approach, incorporating movement, kneeling, and wallowing in the painterly surface.
As part of her artistic ritual, she lays the canvas on the floor and works within it with bare hands and feet, leaving imprints where they touch the surface, while her eyes observe the unfolding occurrence from above. Despite their monumental scale, Saleh Mahameed’s canvases evoke drawings on paper; these are free, dynamic paintings that provide space for visual and conceptual exploration. Her inspirations range from the ancient past to the present—from prehistoric cave drawings, through Edvard Munch and Ana Mendieta, to William Kentridge. The surface of the painting is energetic and sooty, carrying ancient and mythical imagery: vegetal elements (wheat, sabra hedges, vine) representing time’s cyclicality; fertility symbols (bird eggs, pregnant women); and semi-human beasts interacting with human figures.The artist’s figure often appears in the paintings as a teenager or a young woman with flowing hair, frequently accompanied by animals, primarily horses and birds, which merge with her image, reflecting dynamic transformations between animal and human forms. The figures are depicted in states of bodily collapse: bound to external forces, trampled, vulnerable, and lacking spatial grip. The painting’s timeless space echoes the present through images that attest to an aggression-laden, violent reality, such as surveillance cameras, medical devices, bulldozers, and weapons. “Whenever I feel blocked and have difficulty getting the painting started, I depict horses. Despite my great fear of them, following a childhood accident, I am deeply drawn to this noble animal, to the way it stands tall in space. Through the horse, I feel free to act in painting, without fear.” Saleh Mahameed’s words suggest that her entry into the creative process through the trauma sets the painting in motion, linking it to renewal and healing. The exhibition’s title, Peace of Mind (Rahat al-Rūh in Arabic), expresses the spiritual aspiration for inner peace and reconciliation set against the existential struggle.
Confessions on the Altar of Life, 2025
Charcoal on cotton, 400×320 cm
Photo: Daniel Hanoch
The exhibition and catalogue were made possible through the generosity of the Bruce and Ruth Rappaport Foundation
