Born on the Syrian coast in the port city of Latakia, Rama Al Maz was immersed in art at a young age due to her pioneering artist father, Dr. Khalid Al Maz. At her childhood, she kept notes and guidance from her father, and she loved art because of how much she admired her father. With her artistic spark aflame, the young girl’s brief move to the home of some of the world’s most-renowned artists, Paris, gave her exposure to a plethora of various art forms in addition to historic churches encompassing classical Christian artwork.

Shortly after Rama’s father completed his post-graduate studies in Paris, the family returned to Syria, this time to Damascus, to accept his appointment as the dean of fine arts at the University of Damascus. The aspiring artist, following in her father’s footsteps, applied, and was accepted into the university’s fine arts program but decided Holy Art Thou to instead pursue a degree in architecture due to its revered status as “mother of the arts.” Yet, with her husband she moved to Florence, Italy, once home to great artists like Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, while in Florence, she had the opportunity to study Italian art and live right in the middle of artistic landmarks, and she also took interior design courses in addition to studying the Italian culture and language. The majority of distinguished artwork in Florence is both classical and religious – specifically, Christian – in nature, further influencing Rama’s artistic style and technique “The most famous artists used. oil colors. My time in Italy made me admire this,” she says.

Although taught the realism style of art by her father early on, Al Maz allowed her artwork to organically evolve through time. Then she moved to another stage, which was abstract, and finally, she began to draw people and faces, and was able freely to express their passion, anger, sadness, and happiness. In addition to depicting produce various degrees of color and lack of harmful health effects – Rama meticulously brushes the canvas with skillful strokes, shading and blending the colors to create a classical effect in the style of great European artists whose works she once had the pleasure of admiring and studying in person. The subjects featured in her paintings exude tangible emotions, either embedded within their eyes, the crease of their lips or the shading that envelops or illuminates them. “I always try to depict unique characters in a style and technique that makes me stand out,” she says.