Roots of Heritage by Jimmy Mathew
Explore Mondoir Studio
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions: 120 x 90 cm
Year: 2026
Price: $3300.00 USD
Status: available
This painting explores the connection between women, nature, and spirituality. A featureless Arab woman in traditional dress stands at the center, representing the richness of Arab culture and the universal role of women as the source of life. The Tree of Life growing from her back symbolizes creation, growth, and the sacred bond between humanity and nature. Blending surrealism, expressionism, and symbolism, the work reflects on life, cultural identity, and the spiritual strength of women. Original art that transforms spaces and soul.
Why collect this work?
A dark, centrally placed figure blocks the surrounding foliage, yet a bright branching form across her back makes the covered body the painting’s main site of growth and disclosure.
- Mathew states that his practice connects colour, spirituality, emotion and culture. In this work, those concerns meet through the visual contrast between concealed identity and an exposed organic emblem.
- Repeated oval leaves and scattered white flowers create a dense field around the figure. Her turned head disrupts the frontal symmetry, while red and blue branches establish a vertical structure across the dark clothing.
- Catalogued as acrylic on canvas, the painting is built from clearly bounded shapes and strong tonal contrasts. Acrylic can support this opacity and repeated motif, although the photograph cannot establish the canvas texture or exact colours.
- The catalogue dates the 120 by 90 cm work to 2026 and identifies the figure as an Arab woman. Its pairing of covered face and revealed symbolic interior provides a focused case for considering how contemporary portraiture can represent cultural identity without relying on facial likeness.
About the Artist
Jimmy Mathew
Jimmy Mathew is an artist on Mondoir Studio. Artistic discipline: painting. Based in Dubai, AE.
Nationality: Indian
My artistic practice explores the connection between colour, spirituality, human emotions, and culture.
