Latest news with #RanaKhadra
CairoScene
27-04-2025
- Entertainment
- CairoScene
Travel Photographer Rana Khadra Collects Stories Not Stamps
Travel Photographer Rana Khadra Collects Stories Not Stamps Lebanese-Omani photographer Rana Khadra captures the raw beauty of everyday life through portrait photography, blending cultures and stories with each emotive shot. We are all, in our own ways, seekers of light. In the souks of Marrakech, sunlight filters through woven reed roofs, turning spice stalls into pools of gold. Along Beirut's corniche, dusk melts into the Mediterranean, turning water into liquid mercury. Here, shadows aren't voids—they're stories waiting to be told. Across generations, storytellers in the Arab world have understood this, using light and shadow to carve narratives into stone, fabric, and memory. But what if light isn't just a language—it's a mirror? For Rana Khadra, it reflects the unspoken. Khadra doesn't chase postcard-perfect vistas. Instead, she hunts for the unscripted moments where light collides with humanity. A Lebanese-Omani travel photographer, color designer, and self-proclaimed 'corporate hippy,' Khadra has spent the past 15 years collecting stories the way others collect stamps. If she were a Pantone shade, she'd be Wanderlust Gold: equal parts curiosity, warmth, and a refusal to see the world in anything less than full-spectrum technicolor. Born in Oman, shaped by Beirut's resilience, and polished by Dubai's glittering chaos, she's the kind of person who crashes weddings in Cairo for 'research' and considers heartbreak a creative superpower. Rana's photography—a hobby-turned-exhibition staple—is less about staged perfection than it is about 'raw, unpolished humanity'. She wanders the streets from Mumbai to Marrakech, camera in hand, hunting for moments others might overlook: a Baghdad poet mid-verse, hand pressed to his forehead like a living sculpture. Her toolkit? A camera, compulsive curiosity, and a refusal to judge. 'People live differently because that's their life. Their education, environment—it's all different. I want to learn from it, not fear it,' Khadra tells SceneTraveller. 'I've always been drawn to capturing the essence of a person, the unspoken story behind their face.' Her approach is one of quiet curiosity—no preconceived plans, no forced compositions. 'I don't plan shoots. I follow energy—mine, theirs, the city's.' Her secret? Asking permission. 'You get so much more from someone once you've given them respect. They feel safe. Then… you get the real emotions.' Khadra's photography is also deeply shaped by her expertise in colour design, a field she balances alongside her artistic pursuits. 'When I look at a scene, I'm subconsciously thinking about both the people and the colours around them. The way people wear what they see, and how their surroundings shape their choices—it all feeds into my work,' she explains. With a background in colour forecasting, she understands the emotional power hues hold, whether in her designs or portraits. Her dual Omani-Lebanese heritage isn't just a footnote—it's her lens, fueling her mission to reshape perceptions of the Arab world. Her latest exhibition, '3ala Rasi' (On My Head), challenges stereotypes. A visual ode to Arab identity, the series—turbans, hijabs, fruit baskets balanced on brows—is a love letter to the quiet poetry of everyday life. 'Our culture is powerful but misunderstood. I want to show the 'why' behind how we live.' As a photographer, Khadra doesn't shy away from the imperfections of life; in fact, she embraces them. 'My work is about showing life as it is, not as we want it to be.' This philosophy runs through her work, her life, and her creative process. And in a world that often seems fixated on perfection and materialism, her photography reminds us that the true beauty lies in the real, the imperfect, and the unspoken. With 49 countries behind her (and counting), Khadra doesn't travel to tick boxes. Instead, she collects stories, mismatched fridge magnets, and memories. Her favorite adventure? Crashing a wedding. 'In Egypt, I stumbled into a farah sha'bi. Weddings reveal everything—food, traditions, joy.' For someone who picked up a camera before Instagram, Khadra is surprisingly unbothered by the social media era. 'Social media democratized art. Everyone's a critic, but everyone's also a creator. Just stay true to your voice.' Her advice to aspiring artists? 'Start before you're ready. Let your art be a journey, not a final project. And for God's sake, live—it's all material.' As dusk stains Dubai's skyline in shades of apricot, Khadra muses on legacy. 'Success? If even one person sees the world differently because of my work.' For most, a suitcase is a symbol of escape, adventure, or the challenge of packing light. But for Rana Khadra, it holds something deeper—fragments of lives, faces, and moments collected across continents. Through her lens, fleeting stories become timeless.
Times of Oman
01-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Times of Oman
Jotun's 2025 Global Colour Collection highlights the impact of soft tones
Muscat: Often, the smallest things in our lives have the greatest impact. It could be the sunlight on the side of a building, a kind word from a stranger, the feel of a pebble on the beach—or the colour of the room we wake up in every day. These are the simple details in everyday life—those little things that seem to shape our days. The colours around us affect our emotions—even our energy levels—but they don't have to be bold or dramatic to make a difference. In the recently launched 2025 Global Colour Collection called NUANCES, Jotun celebrates the subtle details and gradations of color that do so much to set the atmosphere and create a sense of home. 'Bold colours might have a more obvious visual impact, but even a slight shift in hue can change the mood,' says Rana Khadra, Colour & Creative Manager at Jotun Middle East, India, and Africa. 'We respond to the gradations and tones we encounter each day on both conscious and subconscious levels. In our homes and on our walls, it's often those subtle differences that make all the difference.' Launched in October 2024, Jotun's NUANCES collection features 30 colours across six families—blue, gray, peach, yellow, beige, and green—each with four variations of different intensities, all sharing a single base hue. The collection is designed as both a guide and an inspiration, helping people find the perfect subtle differences to create the mood they want. Based on proven colour theory principles, the Global Colour Collection offers both practical and inspirational guidance on how to use layering, monochromatic schemes, and varying intensities to achieve depth and impact. The collection is showcased through beautiful interior photography that brings all 30 colours to life in a home setting. It also features large-scale artwork created specifically for this launch by French-born artist Agathe Bergeot, incorporating many of the shades from Jotun's 2025 Color Collection. The NUANCES Colour Collection was launched in October 2024 with a series of exhibitions held across Jotun's global markets: Europe, Africa, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and China. Each exhibition will feature an inspiring, eye-catching installation, showcasing large-scale three-dimensional forms—columns, drapes, and arches—embodying the NUANCES colour groups. These sculptural, inviting spaces subtly hint at different areas within a home, broken down into abstract shapes that encourage visitors to step inside, explore Jotun's world of colors, and appreciate the everyday beauty of simple details.
