+1 ::: Why are you an artist Hilda?

Actually the word (artist) is very big and sensitive for me. This is what am asking my self always.. if I am a real artist or not. Art for me is creativity.. I always want to add something new to contemporary art, and it is not easy these days especially with painting. So maybe it is easy to say or to call us artists, but deep inside me I am always asking why am I an artist?.. what am I adding? and where am I going? But all that I am sure about is that I am a full time artist working everyday in my studio. So one day I will answer this question. (Why am I an artist)

+2 ::: Could you tell us some more about your paintings?

In my paintings and in my video art I am trying to discover a new world. I paint a new universe reminding people that we started this life from a small dot. Then it is a big circle, where people are trying always to go up.. to be on the top. But actually we are all going round and round in a big circle but we don't feel it.. and at the end after the short journey of life we will finish our round trip and go to the same point or dot which is death (under ground or sand). I can see nothing around me go in a straight line. Everything is round so why are we trying to be on top? Nothing is waiting for us there.. high positions.. political and social power.. its all just a short journey and we are all going around to the same beginning.

+3 ::: Do you think of your paintings as being abstract or landscapes?

It is more to abstract.. And landscape too.. But if we say it's of the universe I think its better.

+4 ::: What artists have influenced you, and how?

None. I am in Italy now and I refused to visit the Venice Biennale. I always try not to open my eyes and see too many exhibitions, especially with what's happening now (many experiments and most of them not original). I want and I hope I am making original art, yet at the same time I love many western and eastern artists works. But I am never inspired from any other artists work.. And I run very far if I find that my works looks like others.

+5 ::: What other interests do you have (besides painting)?

Many. Reading of course. I give a lot of time to reading, including philosophy and religion. I like to read about old Indian religions and old mythologies. We as Arabs also have a rich history of old mythologies. Also traveling is one of my hobbies. I travel every month, since I was a child until now. I have visited most countries and I feel that wherever I go I learn more. Humanity is the most important thing on my mind. Also the desert is the place I like to stay in most, especially the desert in south Jordan WADI RUM. I always love to be alone in places like the desert. It gives me a break to discover me and to be alone with myself. Well its a long story, but I really have many hobbies and no time to always to practice.

+6 ::: What inspires you to paint and how do you keep motivated when things get tough in the studio?

My studio is very special place to me. It is underground and I don't have big windows. I have a very big studio with no sun light. I prefer always to be alone with ME when Im thinking or drawing, and not to be on normal earth or ground. Everything around me inspires me. What I am doing now is drawing my feelings towards any subject in my mind or heart. I am not a realistic artist so it is all feelings. I start the paintings and I don't know at the finish how they will be. I live with the painting as in life, without knowing the results, until I stop when I see that it is finished.

+7 ::: How have you handled the business side of being an artist?

Well it has its ups and downs as always, in all countries. But in general I am doing fine. Most of my collectors are Europeans along with a few Arabs, but Europeans like my paintings more.

+8 ::: Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

I am not sure.. all I am sure about is that I have left all my life.. my social life and all the routines, and I have given all my time to my art. So I am sure there will be good results after 10 years.. at the same time I don't care if I became famous and I have a good name.. as it will never last if am not doing really strong art, but I think I am taking the right steps.

+9 ::: Could you talk about your latest series of paintings and what you are trying to achieve with them?

With my latest paintings I am trying to make them talk and move. I want to hear them in my studio talking to each other and jump out of the square.. To be free from this square canvas. I want my universe to be real, not only on a canvas..and this is what I did in my video art.. and my new video art which am doing it now..

+10 ::: What advice would you give to an artist just starting out?

Not to think about how to be famous. I never thought I would be an artist. I never thought to be in newspapers or on the television. My advice to them is to discover and to try new media. Also to read a lot.. To be cultured and to open their mind to everything around them. Then they will discover their own line.. And my advice to them is never to do something that other artists have done before us.. we want to add to art, not to do the same.