Female artist from Bahrain, Mayasa Al Sowaidi is also the first Ph.D. candidate in emotional intelligence from the Persian Gulf, holding a bachelor's degree in Mathematics from the University of Bahrain. She began her artistic production in 2005 with enigmatic paintings formed from collages, notably in the series Art Of Tea. Her colorful paintings are the result of a ritual, that of creating a work, exploring the notions of harmony, order, and the many existing forms of art. After the art of tea tasting, tea leaves were given another chance at life and immortality by being fixed on canvas.

After a long historical reflection on the cultural, social, traditional, and spiritual importance of a tea bag as an artifact of globalization, Mayasa Al Sowaidi integrates it as an artistic technique in works reminiscent of ancient parchments or eroded papyrus. The color of water infused by recycled tea bags blends on her canvases with patterns of mysterious ink – birds, keys, locks, Arabic or Latin calligraphy, numbers – or even human forms. Mayasa Al Sowaidi prompts us to question the central subject of her works, but also ourselves through this constant borrowing from the past.

The artist demonstrates to us the richness of Bahrain as a home to talents and artistic energies, where the fundamental place and social power of women are a cultural specificity of the country.

The Art of Tea exhibition was first presented in Paris during Bahrain Art Week in 2018 at the Grand Palais. She exhibits in her homeland: Food is Culture Event (Bahrain National Museum, 2016), Art BAB – (Bahrain exhibition center, 2018) or elsewhere (Kuwait Forum for Modern Art – 2014, Indian Art Fair – New Delhi 2018) and has won numerous awards (Award of Kuwait forum for modern Art 2014, Kuwait International Contemporary Art).