Wafa Abuwafa smiling in a sunlit atelier, surrounded by brushes, flowers and painted saj works.

ART · MEMORY · A LIFE IN COLOUR

Wafa Abuwafa — Paintings on Saj

She paints memory on saj.

ترسم الذاكرة على الصاج.

Explore the works

PEOPLE · MEMORY · PLACE · ART

SECOND LOOK

Red and dark tatreez motifs rise from the lower left of a pale, domed saj, with a single red thread extending across the surface.
The first stitch01 / 06

A familiar surface. Another life.

In every saj,
a story of home.
A memory of a place.

THE FORM STAYS.
THE MEANING TURNS.

Close view of red floral painting and green foliage on the curved surface of a saj.SAJ · DETAIL

BETWEEN · WORKS ON SAJ

Selected works

The familiar, seen again.
In another colour.
On another surface.

See the collection
The artist working with a brush on a floral saj in a studio scene; a supplied creative reconstruction.Open photograph

The artist

From home.
From memory.
From the small things.

Meet the woman behind the work.

Discover her story
The artist seated with a cup among painted saj in a studio scene; a supplied creative reconstruction.Open photograph

SAME ROOTS.
NEW STORIES.

01 / What we carry

Before she knew
how to hold a brush,
she knew what a stitch looked like.

She saw it in her mother’s hand: a needle entering cloth and returning, a thread crossing from one side to the other, an ordinary piece of fabric changing stitch by stitch. Years later, that gesture would return in Wafa’s work.

Wafa with her father Abd Abuwafa, her mother Nawal Abuwafa, and her sisters Reem and Rana.Open photograph
Wafa with her father Abd Abuwafa, her mother Nawal Abuwafa, and her sisters Reem and Rana. 01 / 07

02 / Before the painting

A father taught.
A mother sewed.
A child watched.

Wafa Abuwafa was born in Amman in 1961, to a family with roots in Arraba in the district of Jenin. As a child she moved with her family to Saudi Arabia, where her father worked as a teacher. Her mother was a seamstress.

She later returned to Jordan, married Dr. Farouq Hijazi while still young, and began another chapter in Libya, where she completed secondary school. Life would continue across Jordan and the United States, and later between Jordan, Canada and Egypt. Through it all, art kept taking a larger place.

FAMILY ARCHIVE

A life between places.

Family came before the paintings: parents, sisters, marriage, children, rooms, journeys and returns. The photographs do not explain the work. They show the life from which its visual memory was formed.

Explore the album
Wafa with her husband, Dr. Farouq Hijazi.Open photograph
Wafa with her husband, Dr. Farouq Hijazi. 02 / 07
Wafa in her youth — 1977.Open photograph
Wafa in her youth — 1977. 03 / 07
Wafa with her husband, Dr. Farouq Hijazi, and her son Hassan Hijazi — 1976.Open photograph
Wafa with her husband, Dr. Farouq Hijazi, and her son Hassan Hijazi — 1976. 04 / 07
Wafa with her husband, Dr. Farouq Hijazi, and their eldest son Hassan Hijazi — 1977.Open photograph
Wafa with her husband, Dr. Farouq Hijazi, and their eldest son Hassan Hijazi — 1977. 05 / 07
Wafa with her brother Khaled Abuwafa.Open photograph
Wafa with her brother Khaled Abuwafa. 06 / 07
Wafa with her sister Rana Abuwafa.Open photograph
Wafa with her sister Rana Abuwafa. 07 / 07
The artist seated in an ivory dress and patterned shawl, resting her chin on one hand, with brushes and painted saj around her.

WAFA · STUDIO PORTRAIT

03 / The stitch returns

The stitch returned.
Not as sewing.
As painting.

Tatreez is not simply ornament in Wafa’s work. The stitch came before the painting. Decades after watching her mother sew, Wafa makes the gesture again — with a brush, on metal. A dress becomes pattern. A branch becomes stitch. A place returns in fragments.

Enter the work

«أخذتني الحياة إلى أماكن كثيرة، وكان الرسم دائما طريقي إلى البيت.»

“Life took me to many places, and painting was always my way home.”— Wafa Abuwafa
Portrait of Wafa Abuwafa in a sunlit setting.
WAFA ABUWAFA · A LIFE IN COLOUR

04 / The surface

The saj was made
to be carried.

A saj is a domed metal surface used to bake bread. It can travel; fire can be lit beneath it almost anywhere. Wafa keeps its curve, depth and handle visible. For an artist whose life has moved between places, the choice feels less like a neutral surface and more like part of the story.

An unpainted domed metal saj with its hanging handle visible against a pale wall.
04 / The surface
Side view showing the curved profile and depth of an unpainted metal saj.
01 The curve
Close-up of the metal hanging handle and its attachment to a saj.
02 The handle
Detail of red and dark tatreez-inspired painted motifs on a pale, textured surface.
03 The stitch

THE THING ITSELF ALREADY KNEW HOW TO TRAVEL.

It carried bread.
In her hands, it carries memory.

From fire to colour.

From kitchen to wall.

From one woman’s hand to another.

05 / Selected works

BETWEEN

One thing becomes another.
Without announcing the moment.

Jerusalem’s stone buildings, cypress trees and golden dome merge into red, black and ochre tatreez motifs on a domed saj.Full work

BETWEEN / 01

The City Remembers

Jerusalem occupies the upper arc. Below, tatreez rises as a second architecture: a city held in another language.

Look closer
A leafy olive branch with green and black olives changes into red tatreez-patterned leaves across a pale domed saj.Full work

BETWEEN / 02

What Remains

One branch, painted in two languages. The olive leaf becomes a cross-stitch without announcing the moment of change.

Look closer

The same surface. Other transformations.

Red and dark tatreez motifs rise from the lower left of a pale, domed saj, with a single red thread extending across the surface.Look closer ↗

BETWEEN / 04

The First Stitch

A nearly bare field. One red structure begins to claim the surface. The first mark is not decoration: it is the start of a language.

A hand emerging from an embroidered sleeve holds a red thread that becomes floral tatreez across an ivory and pale blue saj.Look closer ↗

BETWEEN / 05

The Red Thread

A line leaves the hand and becomes structure. Something fragile enough to break, strong enough to connect.

A woman in an ivory dress with a long red-embroidered train faces olive trees and Jerusalem’s golden dome on a painted saj.Look closer ↗

BETWEEN / 06

She Walks Toward It

A figure seen from behind. Cloth, place and pattern continue into one another.

A hand holds a curling red thread that branches into floral embroidery at the lower right of a pale saj with blue and gold accents.Look closer ↗

BETWEEN / 07

The Thread Blooms

A hand releases a red thread. As it crosses the quiet field, the line becomes branches, flowers and tatreez: gesture turning into pattern.

Two olive trees frame a rocky path and a distant hillside town, with a small leaf-shaped motif between their branches on a saj.Look closer ↗

BETWEEN / 08

Between Two Olives

Two olive trees open onto a distant hillside town. The landscape holds the memory of place without reducing it to a single monument.

Red and dark geometric tatreez gathers along the lower left of an almost bare ivory saj, trailing into a fine red line.Look closer ↗

BETWEEN / 09

The Pattern Waits

Tatreez gathers at one edge of an almost empty field. A single red line leaves the pattern unfinished, holding the surface between absence and continuation.

A cat rests on a stone terrace beside an embroidered textile and a vase, beneath red flowers overlooking a hillside town on a saj.Look closer ↗

BETWEEN / 10

A Room Looking Home

A cat rests beside a patterned textile while a hillside town appears beyond the terrace. Domestic detail and remembered place occupy the same view.

Blue doors, stone stairways, olive foliage and red tatreez lead through a painted city toward Jerusalem’s golden dome on a saj.Look closer ↗

BETWEEN / 11

The City Opens

Stone stairs, blue doors, olive branches and tatreez lead toward Jerusalem. Architecture and pattern are woven into one continuous city.

06 / The turning

The body turns.
The centre stays.

Where BETWEEN holds the moment of transformation, THE TURNING follows a movement. The circle becomes the space in which the figures turn. Fifteen works. One recurring gesture.

One whirling figure in white beneath a gold disc, surrounded by green and gold brushstrokes on an ivory saj.Look closer ↗

WA·T·01

01 / 15
See all fifteen works
One whirling figure in white beneath a gold disc, surrounded by green and gold brushstrokes on an ivory saj.WA·T·01A single whirling figure in a red robe beneath a gold disc, with scattered red floral marks on a pale saj.WA·T·02Two whirling figures in white and green against a gold field, beneath a pale disc on a saj.WA·T·03Two whirling figures in white and gold beneath a gold disc against a deep green field on a saj.WA·T·04Two whirling figures in white and red, with green sweeping brushstrokes and a gold disc on an ivory saj.WA·T·05Three whirling figures in white, gold and red beneath a gold disc, surrounded by red floral marks on a saj.WA·T·06Three whirling figures in green, gold and red, the gold figure in front, amid curved green and gold brushwork on a saj.WA·T·07Three whirling figures on an ivory saj: red above, white at lower left and green at lower right, beside a leafy branch and gold disc.WA·T·08Three whirling figures in white, gold and red on a pale saj, with scattered red blossoms and a gold disc overhead.WA·T·09One whirling figure in dark green with a raised arm, surrounded by green and gold strokes beneath a gold disc on a saj.WA·T·10A whirling figure in green beside an olive branch, with a gold disc above, on an ivory saj.WA·T·11Three whirling figures in green, white and red, with the white figure in front beneath a gold disc on a saj.WA·T·12Three whirling figures in red, white and green beneath a flowering branch and a gold disc on an ivory saj.WA·T·13Two whirling figures in white and red beneath pale flowers and a gold disc on a deep green saj.WA·T·14Three whirling figures at different heights: green and ivory above, red at lower left and gold and ivory at lower right on a saj.WA·T·15

07 / In space

A circle has depth.

The curve stands away from the wall and catches the light. The diagram compares diameters only; it is not a life-size preview. All saj works are available on request in 35, 45, 55 or 60 cm. Confirm the final dimensions and hanging requirements directly with the artist.

35cm

45cm

55cm

60cm

08 / The work continues

Some things
stay with you.

Choose a work, or start with a question. Wafa confirms availability, dimensions, price and timing before any commitment.

Or write directly

hello@wafaabuwafa.com ↗

Review your message, then continue in WhatsApp or email. Preparing it here does not send it automatically or confirm an order.

You can explore the works and contact Wafa directly by email.

Open in email

ENQUIRE · TWO WAYS

Choose the work.
Then choose how to ask.

01

Message Wafa directly

WhatsApp opens a ready message. Wafa confirms availability, size, price and timing before any commitment.

Confirm via WhatsApp ↗

TABRIZI CRAFTS

See the work in person

Selected works are shown through Tabrizi Crafts. Ask about the branch and the work before visiting; this page does not show live stock.

Ask about viewing ↗

Before a work comes home

Can I request a work shown here?

Yes. Ask about the work by title. Wafa confirms whether it is available or can be painted to order. A hand-painted interpretation is not a mechanically identical copy.

What size should I choose?

All saj works are available on request in 35, 45, 55 and 60 cm. Confirm the final size, depth and hanging requirements directly before ordering.

How are price, delivery and timing confirmed?

These are discussed directly with the artist. This page does not collect a deposit, confirm an order or guarantee a delivery date.

The form stays.
The meaning is yours to carry.

Back to the beginning ↑
hello@wafaabuwafa.com
Full work ↗
01 / 26

BETWEEN

The First Stitch

Acrylic on formed metal saj

Painted by hand. Enquire for availability, size and price.

Ask Wafa on WhatsApp ↗
01 / 07

FAMILY ARCHIVE