What does a conversation look like?
My hour-long chat with artist and musician Faris Badwan touches on the creative process, past relationships and perceptions of Dubai. We delve into the inexplicable nature of human connections, the role of the subconscious and how we have both been affected by the pandemic. And all the while, he paints.
Badwan has spent the past year working on a project called Call and Response. The resultant artworks were presented in an exhibition at Dubai’s Masterpiece Fine Art gallery last month, as part of Badwan’s first showcase outside of Europe.
Born in the midst of extended lockdowns in his native UK, the body of work hones in on the freestyle, subconscious expressions of creativity that emerge when the brain is engaged in something else, such as a phone call.
“I’ve always been interested in the looseness and natural feeling of the drawings you make when you’re on the phone – when your mind is completely clear and you are having a conversation, but meanwhile, your hand is engaged in some parallel dialogue,” he explains.
Badwan, who is also the lead vocalist of alternative rock band The Horrors, found himself reaching out to friends and acquaintances, but also to people he didn’t really know or had met online. While talking to them on the phone, he would paint, creating abstract works that would map the ebb and flow of each conversation.
“I didn’t want a literal representation of the conversation on paper because that wouldn’t be coming from that hypnotic, completely meditative place. I wanted it to be natural and loose and coming from the subconscious.
"But what I find really interesting is that parts of the conversation would make their way into the pictures, but often in a less literal way than you would expect,” says Badwan, who is half English and half Palestinian.
Each piece is a reflection of the artist – influenced by his thoughts, feelings and even mood on any given day – as well as the person he is speaking to and what is being said. They are intrinsically of their time, since so many of us yearned for human connection during the pandemic and relied so heavily on our phones to interact with others.
The conversations are never stage-managed; Badwan lets them flow naturally and thrives on not really knowing where they might end up. “I value uncertainty,” he says. “I feel like I am at my creative best when I am reacting to something, rather than directing it.”
And once the conversation is finished, the piece is done. Badwan will not disrupt the purity of the work by revisiting or polishing it.
Sometimes the conversations are awkward or stilted, sometimes they are heated, sometimes superficial, but largely not. But does he ever just end up talking about the weather?
“I don’t spend a lot of my life talking about the weather,” he retorts. “The conversations do often end up being quite deep, but obviously it’s a two-way thing and some people just aren’t willing to engage on that level. I have to rein in that part of myself sometimes, because people just don’t want it.”
And is silence good or bad, I ask, when, at one point, our conversation falls into a natural lull. “Silence is just silence,” he responds.
Luckily, he likes talking to people, particularly those he doesn’t know. “I am interested in what motivates people and what excites them and drives them. Even if I don’t identify with them personally.”
He says that if he hadn’t pursued art and music, he would have liked to go into psychotherapy, and it is notable that he has found a way to integrate his fascination with the human brain into his work.
Call and Response has morphed into an exploration of human connections – how people engage and interact and how that experience, coupled with external factors such as location, are processed by the subconscious mind.
“It began as trying to find that loose hypnotic place that I’ve always loved, and then it has all these other aspects to it because of the circumstances,” Badwan says.
To coincide with the Dubai exhibition, Badwan spent a month in the emirate and found that this change of setting also influenced his output.
“Since being in Dubai, the work has changed. It’s becoming so much more structural, probably because I am fascinated by the architecture here. When I look at the work I’ve done in Dubai, it looks like code or networks. I didn’t really foresee that.”
I receive the artwork that Badwan created during our call a couple of weeks later. It is full, colourful and expressive. I try to play back our conversation and track it on the page. Because somewhere in among the vibrant symbols, sweeps and smudges, is me, or at least a version of me, filtered through Badwan’s subconscious mind.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The Case For Trump
By Victor Davis Hanson
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
FIXTURES
Nov 04-05: v Western Australia XI, Perth
Nov 08-11: v Cricket Australia XI, Adelaide
Nov 15-18 v Cricket Australia XI, Townsville (d/n)
Nov 23-27: 1ST TEST v AUSTRALIA, Brisbane
Dec 02-06: 2ND TEST v AUSTRALIA, Adelaide (d/n)
Dec 09-10: v Cricket Australia XI, Perth
Dec 14-18: 3RD TEST v AUSTRALIA, Perth
Dec 26-30 4TH TEST v AUSTRALIA, Melbourne
Jan 04-08: 5TH TEST v AUSTRALIA, Sydney
Note: d/n = day/night
Emirates Cricket Board Women’s T10
ECB Hawks v ECB Falcons
Monday, April 6, 7.30pm, Sharjah Cricket Stadium
The match will be broadcast live on the My Sports Eye Facebook page
Hawks
Coach: Chaitrali Kalgutkar
Squad: Chaya Mughal (captain), Archara Supriya, Chamani Senevirathne, Chathurika Anand, Geethika Jyothis, Indhuja Nandakumar, Kashish Loungani, Khushi Sharma, Khushi Tanwar, Rinitha Rajith, Siddhi Pagarani, Siya Gokhale, Subha Srinivasan, Suraksha Kotte, Theertha Satish
Falcons
Coach: Najeeb Amar
Squad: Kavisha Kumari (captain), Almaseera Jahangir, Annika Shivpuri, Archisha Mukherjee, Judit Cleetus, Ishani Senavirathne, Lavanya Keny, Mahika Gaur, Malavika Unnithan, Rishitha Rajith, Rithika Rajith, Samaira Dharnidharka, Shashini Kaluarachchi, Udeni Kuruppuarachchi, Vaishnave Mahesh
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
More on animal trafficking
The bio
His favourite book - 1984 by George Orwell
His favourite quote - 'If you think education is expensive, try ignorance' by Derek Bok, Former President of Harvard
Favourite place to travel to - Peloponnese, Southern Greece
Favourite movie - The Last Emperor
Favourite personality from history - Alexander the Great
Role Model - My father, Yiannis Davos
Green ambitions
- Trees: 1,500 to be planted, replacing 300 felled ones, with veteran oaks protected
- Lake: Brown's centrepiece to be cleaned of silt that makes it as shallow as 2.5cm
- Biodiversity: Bat cave to be added and habitats designed for kingfishers and little grebes
- Flood risk: Longer grass, deeper lake, restored ponds and absorbent paths all meant to siphon off water
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Series information
Pakistan v Dubai
First Test, Dubai International Stadium
Sun Oct 6 to Thu Oct 11
Second Test, Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Tue Oct 16 to Sat Oct 20
Play starts at 10am each day
Teams
Pakistan
1 Mohammed Hafeez, 2 Imam-ul-Haq, 3 Azhar Ali, 4 Asad Shafiq, 5 Haris Sohail, 6 Babar Azam, 7 Sarfraz Ahmed, 8 Bilal Asif, 9 Yasir Shah, 10, Mohammed Abbas, 11 Wahab Riaz or Mir Hamza
Australia
1 Usman Khawaja, 2 Aaron Finch, 3 Shaun Marsh, 4 Mitchell Marsh, 5 Travis Head, 6 Marnus Labuschagne, 7 Tim Paine, 8 Mitchell Starc, 9 Peter Siddle, 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Jon Holland
The biog
Nickname: Mama Nadia to children, staff and parents
Education: Bachelors degree in English Literature with Social work from UAE University
As a child: Kept sweets on the window sill for workers, set aside money to pay for education of needy families
Holidays: Spends most of her days off at Senses often with her family who describe the centre as part of their life too
The specs: 2018 Renault Koleos
Price, base: From Dh77,900
Engine: 2.5L, in-line four-cylinder
Transmission: Continuously variable transmission
Power: 170hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 233Nm @ 4,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 8.3L / 100km
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
The specs
Engine: 77.4kW all-wheel-drive dual motor
Power: 320bhp
Torque: 605Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh219,000
On sale: Now
South Africa World Cup squad
South Africa: Faf du Plessis (c), Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock (w), JP Duminy, Imran Tahir, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Dale Steyn, Rassie van der Dussen.
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylinder turbo hybrid
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 390bhp
Torque: 400Nm
Price: Dh340,000 ($92,579
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Types of policy
Term life insurance: this is the cheapest and most-popular form of life cover. You pay a regular monthly premium for a pre-agreed period, typically anything between five and 25 years, or possibly longer. If you die within that time, the policy will pay a cash lump sum, which is typically tax-free even outside the UAE. If you die after the policy ends, you do not get anything in return. There is no cash-in value at any time. Once you stop paying premiums, cover stops.
Whole-of-life insurance: as its name suggests, this type of life cover is designed to run for the rest of your life. You pay regular monthly premiums and in return, get a guaranteed cash lump sum whenever you die. As a result, premiums are typically much higher than one term life insurance, although they do not usually increase with age. In some cases, you have to keep up premiums for as long as you live, although there may be a cut-off period, say, at age 80 but it can go as high as 95. There are penalties if you don’t last the course and you may get a lot less than you paid in.
Critical illness cover: this pays a cash lump sum if you suffer from a serious illness such as cancer, heart disease or stroke. Some policies cover as many as 50 different illnesses, although cancer triggers by far the most claims. The payout is designed to cover major financial responsibilities such as a mortgage or children’s education fees if you fall ill and are unable to work. It is cost effective to combine it with life insurance, with the policy paying out once if you either die or suffer a serious illness.
Income protection: this pays a replacement income if you fall ill and are unable to continue working. On the best policies, this will continue either until you recover, or reach retirement age. Unlike critical illness cover, policies will typically pay out for stress and musculoskeletal problems such as back trouble.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Zayed Sustainability Prize
