The artist Doa Bugis.
Gentle, therapeutic, and philosophically poetic are just some of the ways we can describe Doa Bugis’s unique art. She is an independent cross disciplinary creative based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, who graduated from Dar Alhekma University with a Bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design. She has been practicing Islamic Arts, specifically miniature painting, since 2017 and was trained by Mughal miniature painting masters from India and Pakistan.
She is focused on the art of storytelling through traditional painting incorporating Persian and Indian miniatures techniques. Her work is a poetic result of experimenting with traditional and contemporary media exploring topics of immigration, hybrid identities, healing, grief, loss, and the manifestation of everyday ordinary encounters between people and their relationship with the surroundings.
Q1. What does art mean to you?
Art heals the soul through morphing the complexity of human emotions into a language that can be heard or witnessed to connect and transform.
HEART IN FLUX - 2020
Gouache on handmade sunhemp paper with 24k shell gold Dimensions: 26 (w) x 42 (h) cm. Courtesy of the artist.
Q2. Can you tell us about your background and how you started as an artist?
I’ve been practicing painting since the end of 2017 as I was going through a transitional phase and needed an outlet and a healing tool. My unofficial inauguration into the painting world was 2018. Yet, I believe it has been in the works since childhood. I’ve always played the artist role when I was a kid. I would take a sketchbook outside and draw the flowers in our front yard. I finally built up the confidence to call myself a painter in 2020. And I’ve been practicing full time ever since.
Q3. Why did you specialize in Islamic art and miniatures?
I’ve always had a taste for Islamic Arts ever since I was a kid. I used to color Islamic patterns and dabble with Arabic calligraphy when I was six years old. My projects during university have always included a hint of this art form, yet I didn’t pursue the calling professionally. Then back in 2017, I approached (my dear friend and one of the rarest most generous souls on this planet) Sarah Alabdali to become her apprentice and learn the basics of Islamic illumination. After that, I studied under Indian miniature painting masters (specifically the Mughal and Pahari schools) which naturally influenced my style. From there, I’ve been trying to find my own artistic voice through different techniques of my own. And because the main purpose of miniatures back in the day was .storytelling, which is what I’m keen on communicating through my work, Islamic miniatures was the suitable fit for me
MAKKAH 1970 - 2021'. Gouache on handmade sunhemp paper with 24k gold leaf and shell gold'
Dimensions: 45 (w) x 63 (h) cm. Courtesy of the artist.
Q4. How did art help you and your wellbeing? And how do you use it to meditate?
Painting transports me to a parallel universe where I can sit with my emotions and have silent conversations in a free-of-judgment space. The flow and connection with self is much more rhythmic and organic in that realm, which helps me regulate my cognitive thoughts on the conscious level. And that’s my way of meditating.
Q5. Can you tell us about your experience in making the migratory birds -الطيور المهاجرة- art project, and how did it impact you?
Immigration is a phenomenon as old as the existence of humanity. It is deep-rooted in our history, dating back to the earliest human records. People have always relocated in search of better working, life, and social circumstances. Monolithic factors like the environment, economy, and political instability continuously consolidate such a phenomenon, always driving individuals to move in the hope of finding something better, something different, and other possible worlds and realities for themselves and their families. I’ve always been interested in hybrid identities and immigration.
MIGRATING BIRDS - 2020. Gouache on handmade sunhemp paper with 24k gold leaf and shell gold. Dimensions: 80 (w) x 110 (h) cm. Courtesy of the artist.
About eight years ago, I started researching the subject in deeper levels. I collected oral history data. I conducted interviews. I did a lot of readings. And I started translating those images in my head into artworks. The concept took multiple shapes and forms before I developed this large painting in which I mixed between my love for typography with the learned practice of miniature painting manifesting the same original concept I had five years prior.
It’s a representation of the idea of Hijra as a journey both internally and externally. And the painting truly epitomized that odyssey for me personally. It allowed me to travel internally to different realms to birth it the way I did. It was a marking point in my path as an artist. And it will forever have a cherished memory.
Q6. What artwork -that you made or own- gives you peace and joy?
I believe it’s the process itself that brings me peace and joy more than the finished pieces. The end results for sure vary in value visually speaking. Yet, the process itself takes me to another euphoric level that I cannot quantify or even describe.
Q7. What step of the art making process do you enjoy the most?
The painting act itself is my favorite step. It became second nature to me and at the same time, the flow always takes me through different experiences every time. During that, my logical thoughts are quieter and my creative self takes over. I suffer from creative blocks usually during the drawing and conceptualization stage. Yet when I start painting, the flow takes me straight to my happy place.
UNTITLED - 2022
Gouache on handmade sunhemp paper with 24k shell gold
Dimensions: 42 (w) x 59.4 (h) cm. Courtesy of the artist.
Q8. How do you choose the poems in your art?
It depends on my emotional state at the time.
LOVE IS LIGHT - 2022. Gouache on handmade sunhemp paper with 24k gold leaf and shell gold
Dimensions: 29.7 (w) x 42 (h) cm. Courtesy of the artist
Q9. What would you like for people to feel when they look at your art?
The interpretations are theirs to figure out. My purpose is to convey human emotions through the artwork. And if they felt anything, it means I succeeded.
Q10. What is your life motto?
I am not my work or solely the professional role I am playing. I am a patchwork of everything that makes up an authentic human experience.
Q11. Any future plans? Any exhibitions, or any new work, or workshops?
New work is always in the making. I’ve been low-key and slowly developing works for my solo exhibition. May it see the light in the near future.
We hope to see more of Doa Bugis’s art and the deep universal stories it captures, and go on journeys along with her creativity, and messages.
