About

Afaf Sidani is a Bahrain-based visual artist whose practice explores duality as a core part of the human experience. Working primarily in oil painting, she investigates the intersections between light and dark, feminine and masculine, conscious and subconscious, and the spiritual and scientific. Her work draws from personal experience, regional visual traditions, and a fascination with the symbolic languages through which we understand identity and the world around us.

Her layered compositions bring together figurative imagery, animals, botanical forms, geometry, and recurring symbols. Inspired by science, nature, faith, and spirituality, Sidani is interested in the unseen forces that shape perception and identity, as well as the ways visual language can carry meaning across cultures and generations. Her evolving practice explores Arabic calligraphy, Middle Eastern textile patterns, and geometric systems alongside her existing visual vocabulary, considering how inherited forms can be reinterpreted through contemporary painting.

Sidani holds a Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience with a minor in Computer Science from the University of Central Florida. Alongside her studio practice, she has developed creative projects and cultural initiatives across art, events, and community programming. Based in Bahrain, she continues to develop a practice centered on experimentation, symbolism, and the evolving relationship between personal experience, regional visual traditions, and contemporary artistic expression.