The artist

“Just like the sands at shore, gentle yet prevailing, every place exhales an elusive blend of soft nature and strong culture… In my journey, I invoke these elusive pasts and invite their reminiscences to engulf me, so that I may nurture my soul… and expand my horizons… with each and every step…” – Maiada El Khalifa.

Born in Sudan, educated in London, and currently living in France, with many a city along the way from the Middle East, to North America, to Europe, Maiada El Khalifa settled in Paris in 2013, where she is presently praticing her art, drawing on the imprint left by this long multicultural experience. She currently exhibits in Paris and in French provinces.

Pictorial art has always been a passion for Maiada, a self taught artist who has started sketching and drawing since her early childhood, and later moved on to painting in 2010. She has attended many courses including the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts of Paris, and continues to hone her artistic skills, forging her own style with vivid colors and open bold brushstrokes influenced by many an artist. Between the lines of her works, you can sometimes find the striking colours of Matisse, the landscapes brushstrokes of Cézanne, the realist aesthetic of Courbet, or the celebration of women of Klimt…

Using mainly oil but also ink and charcoal, Maiada draws her inspiration from the experience of her great-grandparents – EL Mahdi and El khalifa, two leading figures in the history of Sudan from whom she has inherited a proud desire to carry on a cultural legacy, a heightened sensitivity for history, and the emotional intelligence to understand people’s struggles, especially women, which is a common theme in some of her recent and upcoming works. The beauty of nature and places also inspirit her paintings. Whether it is a visual perception or just a figment of her imaginative mind, both could be a snapshot in a painting creation.

Maiada is a true representation of the cosmopolitan artist whose exposure to different cultures demonstrates messages of intercultural awareness and beauty, amidst a struggle to find one’s identity.

“My art’s ultimate aim is to infuse harmony within cultures and societies.” – Maiada  El Khalifa.