An Emirati artist who has led over 60 art events and workshops across the UAE, including a workshop at Louvre Abu Dhabi and a live painting station at COP28. Hamama is passionate about teaching young artists about using sustainable materials. Let’s find out how she merges her passion with her love for the environment!
Born and raised in Ras Al Khaimah, Hamama was enamoured by the UAE’s gorgeous nature. As she grew up she learned more about the importance of applying sustainability at work and at home by reducing and recycling single-use items. Nonetheless, it was only when she saw the initiatives and awareness campaigns of the Year of Sustainability 2023. Faced with that realisation, she recognised that she must extend sustainability to other aspects of her life; namely, her art.
Hamama looked around her environment and saw colours everywhere: in herbs, in spices, in soil. Instead of getting store-bought colours that are full of chemicals and result in waste, she started experimenting with blending her own colours. She went around Ras Al Khaimah to collect ingredients from nature. Using olive oil and glycerin to mix, she made green paint from mint, red paint from chilli, and brown paint from clay. She eventually achieved various shades of 7 different colours. At COP28, which took place in December 2023, she held a live painting station where she showed her audience the way she mixes her colours and uses them in her paintings on recycled paper. The colours perform exactly as store-bought colours do–with the added benefit of a wonderful aroma resulting from the resources she uses, which adds a brand new layer of creativity and innovation to the landscapes she loves to paint. On top of that, given the colours’ natural raw ingredients that make them oxidise quickly, Hamama only makes as much as she needs, preventing excess waste.
