al khulud Painting

I began studying the arts (screen writing, graphic design, and painting) as well as a few languages while working towards my BA in Spanish. By the time I graduated in 2009, I had also finished a year and an a half internship at an architectural firm in Santa Barbara, CA. Still feeling the urge to push myself, I took a year off to study Arabic in Damascus, Syria. As an individual that loves languages and has learned to speak a few: Spanish Italian and Arabic, which I acquired through classroom education, strictly watching videos and immersion, respectively, and now teaching English in the UAE, I'm captivated by the ways in which we as humans learn a second language. Is it all together necessary to sit in class or study abroad? Is it possible to acquire a language photographically, purely through art? What roles do one's background & mass media play in how an image is interpreted? My work, inspired by Arabic calligraphy, gives forms to Arabic words such that you literally see what i mean (s.w.i.m) and is my chosen vehicle for arriving at answers to these questions. I primarily work with acrylics on canvas.