“Colors are my language” [Archives:2006/928/Last Page]

By: Shaker Mohammed

Sameh Yosuf Al-Faqih is suffering from a speech deficiency due to poor hearing. He can only utter a few words, but incoherently and with difficulty. Since he was five years old, art has been his main way of expression.

During the interview, Sameh's mother interprets his gestures. “I feel relaxed with colors,” she explains for him. “They are my language.”

23-year-old Sameh never joined an art school. He picked up the brush when he was just five years old on his own initiative, and his parents encouraged him from day one. “His father and I encouraged him psychologically and in terms of preparations for the paintings by bringing the necessary tools, paint, frames and the like,” his mother says. “I have a background in art, but not as an artist. I am essentially an appreciator of art,” she added. In their home, Sameh's work fills the walls for the whole family to appreciate. His maternal uncle, Mohammed Da'il is a plastic artist and this may have influenced Sameh.

Recently, the silent painter participated in an exhibition at the Sana'a based Culture House. An assortment of 24 paintings with different themes showed the artist's great sense of colors.

“He likes to depict sad faces,” says the mother of Sameh Yosuf Al-Faqih. “He also portrays the faces of old men and women with traditional attire. He can be described as a realist””.

Sameh is also fond of depicting Yemeni landmarks such as Dar Al-Hajar (the Rock Palace)