Explorations of perception through diverse media have made the Palestinian artist a pioneer in the art world.
In the late 1960s, even before she began producing the kaleidoscopic landscapes and kinetic digital works distinct to her, when still-life objects were the focal theme of her paintings, Samia Halaby ensured her subjects were not suspended in an unjust stasis.
The Palestinian artist would spend hours scrutinising geometric bodies, such as spheres and cubes. She would observe how the light washed over them, causing shadows to stretch and swirl, and strove to convey these dynamics with paint.
Her early work, thus, enlivens the inanimate. Spheres emerge from the canvas, mirrored surfaces elongate and compress reflected forms, while rounded crosses give the illusion of depth, honouring the interplay of light and shadow.
