Meet Hala Tawil

Meet Hala Tawil, a digital artist passionate about digitally curated experiences. Using her architectural background to convey pieces full of exploration and alienation of modern life, she taps straight into the feeling of mundanity to let the viewer rethink and reinvent everyday objects. Recently, taking part in an exhibition, “No Play Time”, at HuidenClub Rotterdam. Telling a story of two teenagers leaving behind objects close to their hearts she spotlighted a couple of her works to reinvent the spectacle of something seemingly monotonous within mundane furnishing objects.

Hala Tawil STILL TRYING | 2022 presented at No Play Time in HuidenClub/ IG huidenclub © All rights belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.

Describe your artistic process, where you take inspiration and how you transform your ideas into visual images.

I always allow a bit of flexibility in my work so it will never be exactly how the sketch started off. I allow myself to play, try positioning things, adding, removing... The construction of the image is always a bit free, and things pop up as I’m working on a piece.

Also as someone with a degree in architecture I’m not just influenced by architecture but by architectural drawing and architectural collages. If you are an architect or an interior designer, you would clearly see that background in how I draw or create my images. I’m using it to convey whatever I’m trying to say or create a sort of narrative.

There are two types of artists: those who first come up with the concept and then create, or vice versa - those who first craft and then find meaning behind it. Which style is yours?

I think I’m a little bit of both, but I definitely start with a concept in mind. I always start with a rough sketch or a series of rough sketches because there’s something I want to convey. There’s always a story, maybe it’s clear or it’s not clear in my mind, but there’s always a feeling or an atmosphere that I want to convey, and I always begin with some sketches. But as I work, I always allow a bit of flexibility so it will never be exactly how the sketch started off. And I always allow myself to play a little bit, try positioning things here and there, adding, removing... like, the construction of the image is always a bit free, and things pop up as I’m working on a piece.

Bed Linen Set designed by Hala Tawil specifically for No Play Time in HuidenClub/ IG huidenclub © All rights belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.

The body is one of the main symbols within your pictures. Why did you go for this specific gesture, and what does the body entail to you?

I think it’s humanizing the space, so it adds a human touch, and it’s always a feminine body that adds a feminine touch. But the bodies are never complete because it’s not really figurative, it’s more like the body is a prop, it’s another object in space - that’s how I read it. And because the body is not complete it also adds to this ambiguity, this creates a bit of anxiety as there’s no face normally, only torso or arms or legs.

Recently you held an exhibition called "No Play Time". Tell us more about the project. How did you come with an idea and what scenery did you want to show?

It was something Rawad our curator brought forward, I think a year or two ago... It was his idea to bring my digital works and Groovido conceptual furniture designs  together because they are very different, but we could see that they were fitting together in one way or another to create an immersive exhibition. It’s not just placing things on a pedestal or on a frame for you to look at. So, we did a lot of brainstorming... Our curator was kind of constructing a story as we were looking at the works.

The scenery relates a lot to the idea of the teenage bedroom, which can feel very dual—it’s both a prison and not a prison. It’s a shutaway space, something completely removed from daily life, adulthood, and responsibility. But it’s also a place where you’re totally free. It can feel very closed off, introverted, and isolating. I think this is what we’re trying to play with: the contrast between playfulness and isolation, and how they can exist on different spectrums.

Besides digital art, you also work in the field of sculpture. How does this medium differ from digital and fine art for you?

I think I last made a physical piece in 2018. For me, the process is somehow similar because I’ve always been interested in constructing an image—even if it was a 3D object, it still always felt like an image to me. A lot of my work now relies on collage elements, though not in the traditional sense; it’s more about constructing an image, working in layers, and using different digital objects, then putting it all together. When I was working in three dimensions, it was very similar. I was always adding bits and layering different materials into the piece. It’s totally different, but maybe my mentality or artistic process is still somewhat similar.

Hala Tawil showcasing a set of her works on paper at KunstRAI Gallery Amsterdam/ IG Hala Tawil © All rights belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.

In one of your works, “Gradual Unease” you reinvented the essence of desire. What does desire entail to you?

The idea of desire is that it’s not about actually getting what you want - it’s about the process of wanting. That’s how I remember dealing with it in my work. It’s built a lot on images or ideas in your mind about what you think you want, but it’s not about actually getting it. It’s about the whole process—the arousal, the longing. You almost have it; you really want it, but you will always want it. As soon as you get what you want, that desire fades. I think this applies to everything—clothes, sex, relationships, food. Desire in itself is more powerful as an emotion than actually getting what you want.

As 2024 is almost finished, we are heading towards 2025. What future prospect do you foresee for yourself and what other artistic areas would you like to discover?

I think I want to take everything a bit less... not less seriously, but approach my work with a lighter mindset. The past two years have been quite tough; I felt pulled in so many directions—not in my art practice, but in life. I’ve been thinking I just want to keep things simple. My priority is to make work and improve my craft, and maybe let everything else fall into place around that. Every artist wants to make a living from their work, or at least partly, so I’m planning to approach things with a bit more openness. This recent exhibition showed me how fun it is to think more freely. So, maybe ‘lightness’ is my main word... I’d like to expand beyond just images—maybe experiment with small animations or 3D work, making things a bit more immersive. My focus is really on developing myself and my craft

Hala Tawil DEFEATED | 2021 © All rights belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.