Barnhouse in Orangeville Print

Personal Profile | Zaleza Aman I am a Malaysian-British artist with an engineering background. I am very much an imagineer at heart. While I chose numbers and not colours from an early age, I have always been great at imagining and designing things that are creative in nature. My current compositions continue to express both natural and conceptual subjects in life - with a touch of fun-tastic imagination! Creativity, art and painting are more in tune with my emotions and provide a relief from being part of the corporate rat race. My pieces have been a mixture of elements: made from creative expressions in the realms of fantasy, good vibes and nature. I work on small to medium paintings and upcycled materials, with acrylic paints on canvas as my main medium. They are loaded with creative ideas and symbolism, emotive and intelligent. My aim is to put my soul closer to the colours that I can marvel at in the night sky and be able to exhibit my artworks locally and internationally. As a Muslim female artist, it is a real challenge to grace the creative arts but I am now all focused on imagineering the art world! Brief Early Life My five siblings and I were raised by my grandmother in a small village after my mother passed away when I was 5. My father, who was in the police force, was rarely at home. We had very little growing up, so having access to coloured pencils or even a drawing pad was not even a consideration. I often spent time alone drawing on banana leaves and the ground using sticks from plants everyday after school. Drawing became a way of expressing my loneliness, daydreams and imaginations. My father later remarried my late step-mother who was a tailor. It was then that I developed a distinct interest in drawing, having seen her sketches and designs made for her customers almost on a daily basis. These life experiences have certainly shaped and influenced the artworks I produce today.