Shahinda Abdalla explores family and home in ‘phases of love’

Shahinda Abdalla, a student on our Emotional care of babies, children, young people and families graduate diploma course, is exhibiting her art at the Tavistock Centre titled ‘phases of love’.

Primarily motivated by a need to understand her internal world, in 2015, Shahinda began to paint as a way to reconnect. Much of her work is therefore psychological, experimental and contemplative.

As her practice has gone through several stages, she too has come to appreciate the journey her art has taken her through.

Though often easier to describe herself as a painter, she considers herself a visual essayist. A writer of pictures. Not just any pictures, but pictures of the mind.

Shahinda was born in 1992 in Cairo to Egyptian-Sudanese parents. Due to her frequent travels around as a child, the question of belonging was central to her experience of the world and consequently seeps into her work.

The question of how we create homes that foster not only an external sense of belonging for a child but an internal sense of belonging within them is at the heart of this exhibition.

Reflecting on her exhibition, Shahinda explained “what I would love people to see in these paintings is a family’s story in the making. There are so many lives and a whole lot of living that has to happen for a new born to be ushered into the here and now.”

“These paintings are a glimpse into a moment of shifting in this young family’s life. Everything is changing, their home, their bodies, but most importantly their minds are making space for a new love.”

Phases of Love is a series of six portraits of a couple who are pregnant in the months leading up to the birth of their first child. It is an attempt to capture the miraculous process that happens as a new family is born and a new home is made.

‘Phases of love’ is on display at the Tavistock Centre in Belsize Park until 15 October. Please contact art@tavi-port.nhs.uk to book an appointment to view the exhibition.iew the exhibition.

Art at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust

Art is an important feature of the Tavistock and Portman. We believe that the artworks in our buildings help to humanise what is essentially a clinical space, making it more friendly and welcoming. The arts can make a powerful contribution to health and well-being for both physical and mental health. Research has demonstrated the benefits of the arts in healthcare in hospitals and other healthcare setting and a Department of Health working group on the impact of arts on health found that the arts have ‘a clear contribution to make and offer major opportunities in the delivery of better health, wellbeing and improved experience for patients, service users and staff alike’.

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