Reem Dawood's quiet portrait of love and art

Observer

11-04-2025

When Reem Dawood — the prominent Omani translator based in Cairo — was approached by Egyptian art magazine 'Funoon' to write an article describing her life as a wife of an artist, she happily obliged.
The article titled 'My Husband is a Visual Artist', published last month, was well received and highly praised by her fellow writers and Facebook followers.
Reem's husband is well-known Egyptian artist Wael Hamdan, who comes from a family of intellects. His father Mohammed Hamdan was a writer, his uncle Jamal was a celebrated thinker and geographer — who had a bridge in Egypt named after him, a few years back and his other uncle, owns a distinguished publishing house in Cairo.
She starts by sharing how they met for the first time in one of his exhibitions at the end of 2020 and then again, in another exhibition where they had a long conversation regarding the artwork displayed.
After a few months of knowing each other and discovering mutual interests, they decide to take the big step and get married. They both were both in their late 40s and out of unhappy marriage experiences.
She writes, 'we felt that it was time to open a new page that could be happier, stabler and more successful.'
They get married in 2021 and Reem begins experiencing life with an artist. She describes his work routine in a detailed way that transforms you into his studio where you can witness the process of art creation: from crude sketches done feverishly on paper and mixing colours to precise brush strokes on canvass that gives birth to the image in his head.
However, after long hours of working in front of the easel and countless cups of tea and coffee, Wael walks in complaining of neck, shoulder and back aches.
Reem would prepare two hot water bottles, as she would be suffering from a backache as well after a lengthy period of translation. She writes, 'we own many pain relief creams and ointments in our house that enables us to start up a pharmacy!'
Before any inauguration, Wael's anxiety and outbursts are ignored by his wife. She learns that it is a passing phase that will cease once the exhibition starts. She speaks of his exhibitions and her favourite themes such as the Vespa and aquatic plants collection. She also mentions a small painting of a woman — who reminded her of herself, that he shared on his Facebook page years before they met and how much she liked it.
After getting acquainted, he gifted her the same painting that now hangs in her office 'so I could admiringly gaze at it'.
Wael's talent does not stop at painting; he is also a photographer who never travels without his professional camera with different lenses. Strangers in many countries would stop him asking for their photos to be taken and sent to their emails.
He is also an avid musician who plays the guitar and shares with Reem the love of classic Arabic music. When visiting Muscat, he would pick up the Oud in her sister's house and play it in their balcony for hours to the delight of the whole family.
There is no magic and fireworks in Reem's article, yet the mature tone used in her flawless narrative tints it with familiarity, that is heart-warming and guarantees a smile while reading it.
She offers simple solutions to overcome life dilemmas such as personality differences: 'being a reserved person married to a sociable one, I learned never to order tea when going out with Wael. It would arrive cold due to his endless chats en-route.' The article is genuine and worth reading.