Kuwaiti Painter Donates Painting to Foreign Ministry

Thuraya Al-Baqsami poses with one of her paintings during an exhibition held in Seoul last week. / Courtesy of Korea Foundation

By Kim Se-jeong
Staff Reporter

A prominent Kuwaiti painter has donated an oil painting depicting a Korean doll in hanbok, or traditional Korean costume, coupled with Islamic symbols to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, wishing everlasting friendship between Kuwait and Korea.

Thuraya Al-Baqsami came to Korea for a four-day exhibition as part of the Arab Cultural Festival. The exhibition ended last Friday.

The painting was finished only two days before her departure for Korea earlier this month.

``The Korean ambassador in Kuwait gave me a Korean doll as a gift. He told me that he wanted to see the doll in my painting, and I said that when I came to Korea, I would bring the doll in a painting,'' she said.

Her participation in the festival was made at the invitation of former Korean Ambassador to Kuwait Song Keun-ho.

The artist has gained fame and popularity around the world.

The exhibit was her 53rd international exhibition. Some of her works were donated to organizations.

Women are a common topic in her work. One piece, titled ``Where Is My Rights?," depicts a Kuwaiti woman, her entire body blackened except for two eyes.

The politically charged piece was to advocate the rights of Kuwaiti women whose right to vote and speak were deprived for 40 years, she explained.

The piece was donated to the Museum of Human Rights in Geneva, she said.

Ambassador Song praised her works for telling the history of lives of women in Kuwait.

Being first exposed to Korean art during her trip last week, Al-Baqsami remembered video works done by the late Korean video artist Paik Nam-jun.

``Korean art is experimental,'' she said.

skim@koreatimes.co.kr

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