Blue Cat Landscape shows architecture from the Arab world in cool blue tones. The border around the composition is intentional: it creates a sense of enclosure, something cozy and contained.

Blue and Pink Landscape brings you in through the flowers in the foreground toward a mosque at the center. Done in watercolor, it is of Palestine, of Jerusalem, as I imagined it from the stories my husband told me. It is a romantic, dream-like vision of the place and what returning to it might look like.

Aidan’s Village is a vision of a utopian Egyptian village, sun-drenched and full of happiness. It is painted from nostalgia, a longing for a homeland where people in the countryside have a good life. That warmth and simplicity is what I was reaching for.

Yellow Cairo Sun was painted after the Arab Spring, in a time of cautious optimism. The sun at the center is not symmetrical and not quite at ease, which is exactly how that hope felt.

Sunset in Alexandria shows the Mediterranean in Alexandria’s Zizinia district, the neighborhood where I was born. The sun is at the center because it was a happy time. Mommy would take us walking along the shore at sunset every day.

Pink and Grey Cairo shows the city through an unusual palette, pinks and grays that express a different mood than my other Cairo paintings. It was done after the Arab Spring, when there was still some optimism, but it was quieter and more uncertain.

Pablo’s Jerusalem shows the Wailing Wall, the Church of the Nativity, and the Dome of the Rock together. At the center, a red olive tree draws energy from the sun. This is Jerusalem as it has always been — a city that holds all three faiths, and belongs to all of them.

Orange Tunlaw celebrates the domes of a landscape bathed in warm sunlight. It is a simple piece about the beauty of what is there.

Orange and Blue Morsy Abu El-Abass shows a detail of the Morsy Abu El-Abass Mosque in Alexandria, the way the sun catches and reflects on its surfaces. The orange and blue are about that particular quality of Mediterranean light.

Jean’s Brown Domes is another close interpretation of the Morsy Abu Abbas Mosque in Alexandria. Painted from up close, with the windows reflecting back the festive energy of the place — balloons, cotton candy, the sound of the city all caught in their glass. The vibrant colors try to hold all of that.

Green Broad Brush was inspired by a study abroad trip to the Virgin Islands, where I was studying natural science and camping in the rainforest. The lushness of the green hugs the viewer, with the seascape visible behind it. It evokes the particular freedom of being in that kind of place.

Egyptian Village is a vision of a utopian Egyptian village, painted in bright, happy colors. The lush green and vibrant architecture represent a version of what the countryside could be: beautiful, peaceful, and full of life.

Busy Mosque is the first of several paintings I did of the Morsy Abu Abbas Mosque in Alexandria. I painted it up close near the dome rather than showing the whole building, so you feel like you are right there looking at it. The lines and details of the architecture were what I wanted to capture.

Bullin’s Palestinian Landscape shows the silhouettes of domes and arches rising against a warm glowing sky. Done in watercolor in 1982, the decorative patterns in the foreground give it movement and artistry. There are no modern elements here, only the enduring spirit of the place.

Black Bold Village uses strong outlines and earthy colors to capture the architecture of a traditional Egyptian village, with its distinctive domes and arched doorways. The zigzag patterns and palm trees root it firmly in the landscape it comes from, inviting the viewer into the village world of Egypt I know and love.

Aidan’s Pyramids shows the Great Pyramids the way a child might see them, with swirling warm colors and a landscape full of energy and wonder. Palm trees and the surrounding landscape frame them. The impressionistic style lets the ancient and the dreamlike exist together.

Mona A’s Red Village is a feeling more than a place— reds and oranges burning against the dark shapes of trees and windows, yellow light catching where it can. The painting is poetic, dreamlike, somewhere between sunset and memory.

Amr’s Alexandria shows the city I know through its architecture — domes, arches, and buildings clustered together the way Alexandria has always held itself. The warm earthy tones and stone patterns in the foreground root the painting in the ground it stands on. Some of the bricks are old, some are new— building blocks layered across generations, the way memory itself is built. Alexandria has many layers, and this painting tries to show a few of them.

Amr’s 80s Landscape shows a city skyline at dusk with a luminous purple and pink sky behind it. The foreground is full of movement and color, showing the energy of the street below the silhouette above. It is my take on that particular time and place.

Erica’s Seascape is inspired by Alexandria and the walk along the Mediterranean shore. I spent the first four years of my life in Alexandria, where evening walks along the sea were part of our daily rhythm — the waves crashing down setting the tempo of every step. The water and the sound of it are what I was after — a place that is part of me.

Erica’s Rolling Pyramids juxtaposes the movement of the waves with the solid, ancient anchoring of the pyramids. Two opposing forces — one in motion, one immovable — sharing the same horizon.

Erica’s Red and Blue Landscape shows a village full of energy, its reds and blues vibrating with life and movement. A happy place where the sound of laughter spills out into the street.

Arjunia’s Black Sky captures a night scene with bold buildings and palm trees lit up against a dramatic dark sky. The yellow moon brings warmth to what could otherwise be a harsh scene. It is the kind of night that feels full of possibility.

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Sunset Mosque was born from a memory of Cairo, when I was a young student at The AUC studying Arabic and Egyptian history. I used watercolor and pen to let the viewer hear the adhan calling for prayer and feel the heat of the day softening at its edges— the scent of the city, the joy of being there.

Hazy Cairo in the 80s comes from the year I spent studying in Cairo. The haze of the city always turned the sky into something blurry and dreamlike — a mood, a song that floats along the landscape. The domes and minarets rise out of it the way they always have, still there, still themselves. More feeling than fact, which is how memory works.

Flat Bright Landscape shows an abstract cityscape with a bold sun at its center, its rays reaching outward in geometric shapes. The colors are warm and the city feels welcoming and alive. It is an optimistic view of what could be.