Hamawi, who has been in Botswana for the past five years, says growing up in Africa surrounded by the splendours of nature and its diverse flora and fauna has been instrumental in providing him with exotic compositions of colour and form.
Showtime spoke with Hamawi at Thapong Visual Arts Centre on Friday where he is exhibiting for the first time. At the exhibition, he gave some insight into the creative thinking process he goes through before he paints. "My art is not just an expression of my feelings and thoughts, but also desire to improve with every painting which is the beauty of art as one can never stop learning," emphasised Hamawi.Hamawi says his living experience in London forced him to adapt his painting to the environment that is so different from Africa. He further explained that he began to see London as a concrete jungle and started a series of paintings of buildings. He was forced to search for aesthetic qualities of buildings and houses by reconstructing, simplifying and cleaning them up and giving them another worldly feel.
