Nafisa Naomi

On Tuesday night I had the opportunity to attend a gallery exhibition opening of the paintings and sketches of a very accomplished artist called Nafisa Naomi.

What an artist, what a lady and what an inspiration. I came to know Nafisa through my work with the Jeans for Genes events where she has painted pairs of jeans for charity for several years and her last pair of painted jeans were signed by Cameron Diaz which sold for $30,000.


Nafisa had asked me to photographically cover a couple of events in the last two weeks ending with her gallery opening which was in Artarmon in Sydney's north. I am a fan of her work and the diversity and expression imbued in her work is just beautiful. Nafisa has a medical background, she is passionate about what she does, which is exciting for me to begin with. She reached a point one day in 1984 whilst doing her medical degree when she could no longer quiet the inner voice to paint, and in the ensuing years she has been prolific. Nafisa is recognised locally and internationally as one of, if not THE best artists in the country. She is also President of the Portrait Artists Association in Australia and shows no signs of slowing, thankfully!

These are some of her works at the exhibition and are shown here only to illustrate, albeit poorly, as her work has a quality and a detail that can only be appreciated by actually seeing and experiencing the artwork.











Nafisa has been commissioned to do some portraits one of which was of famous photographer Lewis Morley, and won her a prestigious First prize major award in Western Australia called the Black Swan prize for Portraiture this year.
The large piece of art done in black and white was on display and the photographer Lewis Morley was there himself. More on him in the next post.



There was also a portrait of Australia's and I guess one Italy's most flamboyant and talented entertainers. Nafisa captured Maria Venuti, a woman who is very well endowed with the ability to have a husky, rich voice who can sing, entertain and help others. Most people in this country know here from the rather large endowment of measurements to her figure, but when you realise that she does so much for charity and see the person that Nafisa captured, and I got to meet, you see a woman who is selfless, caring and full of life.




It was a wonderful exhibition, and in a coming day I will have some of those pieces of art hanging in my home. I am afflicted with a sense of knowing what I like, and it is invariably manifest to me PRIOR to knowing the price, but they often are the most expensive ones! Oh well, I like what I like.


Nafisa with Jacinta Tynan, journalist, who opened the exhibition.

Lastly, I am honoured to know Nafisa and value her and her work highly. I look at this wellspring of talent and beauty that radiate from within her and believe that it is truly beautiful. A thought I have not been able to pass over lightly, is the thought that if she is producing this work only a few years after she started painting, what work is yet to come from this exceptionally talented lady?

Bring it on Nafisa!

Art is a lovely process and I am so grateful to have found a mode of expression that I love.