Hilda Hiary


Hilda Hiary is a Jordanian visual artist.

Biography

Hiary was born in Amman, Jordan in 1969. Before acquiring her academic training, she had already been exhibiting as a self-trained artist for about a decade, beginning in the late 1980s. Hiary completed a BA in Political Science and Sociology at University of Jordan in 1990, and later completed an additional BA of Fine Art in printmaking at Amman’s Al Zaytoonah University in 2004. Since the mid 1990s, she has been featured in solo and group shows in the Middle East, Europe,USA and the North America and Asia, while contributing to symposiums workshops and biennales. Although primarily a painter, she has also produced a number of video works and installations, several of which have been exhibited internationally. Among many other professional affiliations, Hiary and serves on competition juries, including for film festivals and contests.
Her focus on the region’s political and social battles and their effect on her have featured prominently in her art. Hiary's work is characterized by multi-colored patterns and shapes, which are combined to showcase emotions and relationships; some personal, such as between a single mother and child, but most of them are social or political, such as depictions of women's oppression, or the experiences of Syrian refugees, especially the women among them. Her work has evolved and changed over the years, moving in and out of abstract and figurative works, but remains in both styles marked by her strong lines and bright colors, using elements of expressionism, pop-art, and primitivism.
In addition to her painting on canvas, Hiary also creates murals, video art, and installations. In 2016, she took part in a travelling art collection known as The Bridge, which brought together 47 artists of Muslim, Christian and Jewish backgrounds. The collection featured her painting The Straight Line, which she described as "It is the clear straight line… the way most people in my homeland Jordan were raised to respect all religions. However, now we are living in a complicated and incomprehensible time that is attempting to bend this line." In 2017, she participated in the international symposium The Place, in Tunisia, to support the local art scene and foster young Tunisian artists.

Exhibitions

Select exhibitions include:

Solo exhibitions


2013 two thousand twelve Orient Gallery - Amman Jordan