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RIYADH: Pakistani artist Zainab Anwar's captivating work is marked by vibrant colors and surreal portraits of South Asian and Arab cultures, with a focus on addressing the challenges women and girls face in society.

Anwar, 24, was born in Pakistan and moved to Saudi Arabia when he was 8 years old. He spent his formative years in the capital, attending Manarat Riyadh International School. She left the Kingdom at 18 to attend university in Canada and has since returned.

“I grew up here with people from different cultures. However, we often did not see families from different cultures interacting with each other. At school, South Asians and Arabs interacted with each other, but I saw no media representation of this.

“I felt like our societies outside of school were completely separate. This led me to create intercultural works. To represent the experiences of South Asians in the Middle East.”

Anwar began his artistic journey by portraying Pakistani women in various situations.

“Later I started drawing darker skinned women with hair because I felt that these were characteristics that brown women were ashamed of. I saw girls at school competing with each other for such beauty standards, Arab and South Asian girls alike.”

Art has been an outlet for her during times of mental health issues.

“Later, I started using surreal art to depict the difficult feelings and experiences I had with my depression and anxiety. Growing up with mental health stigma, it took me many years to understand these emotions. And creating art on it helped me deal with such feelings.”

She added: “I believe art can help shed light on difficult matters and also bring a sense of peace to people suffering from such social issues and mental illness.

“We found that society has difficulty dealing with experiences that all women and girls face, such as sexual harassment and unrealistic beauty standards.”

Bright and colorful backgrounds are Anwar's artistic signature. “The main source of inspiration for the colors I use in the paintings is Pakistani culture,” she said.

“An art form used by truck drivers in Pakistan is called truck art. Truck drivers decorate their trucks with bright, contrasting colors to draw attention to them. I was drawn to these trucks from a young age and I think that led me to use bright colors in my work.”

Anwar's portfolio features an experimental use of various mediums including ink, pencil, photography and traditional art forms such as embroidery. Her current preference is to use acrylic paints for her work.

Although she depicts aspects of South Asian and Arab culture, Anwar says women tend to relate to her art no matter where they are from. “They can understand the many universal experiences of being a woman that I depict in my work. People also appreciate cross-cultural work and see it as a reflection of the society we live in.”

Anwar says he tries to capture the full range of human experience in his work, including joy and sadness, which are “important to society, both for the artist and the viewer”.