Applying henna to canvas, local artist illustrates Salt’s cultural heritage

SALT — Passing by the historical Saint George Orthodox Church, dating back to 1682, visitors begin their tour at Al Khader Street in Salt with a small shop comprising a variety of artworks made by a local henna artist, Bulqees Abbadi.

Henna, a natural plant-based dye, has been traditionally used for body art in India, Africa and the Middle East for thousands of years. It involves adorning the hands and sometimes the feet with various patterns and intricate drawings, which remain on the skin. 

However, Abbadi had other plans for the dark dye.

The 24-year-old local artist began her creative journey with conventional watercolours. Five years ago, her passion for both art and tradition led her to start a career practising henna body art in weddings and various social occasions.

Later on, Abbadi decided to make more lasting artworks, applying henna to canvases instead of hands to document and preserve Salt’s natural scenery, historical buildings and cultural heritage. 

The artworks are meant to “immortalise” Salt’s beauty, displaying it for tourists in the form of art pieces that they can take back with them to their countries, she told The Jordan Times.

“I use red and brown henna dyes, a combination which is very close to the colours distinguishing the historical buildings in Salt,” Abbadi added.

“It took a lot of hard work to reach today’s results. I experimented a lot and developed my own techniques and although painting with henna on canvases is much harder than doing so on hands, it’s more lasting,” Abbadi continued, noting that it gives more room for creativity.

“They allow me to create larger paintings and I am at more liberty to come up with my own ideas, whereas when it comes to body art I have to go with the customer’s request,” she said.

Abbadi’s mother, who has over 20 years of experience working in traditional handicrafts, has been an inspiration for her.

“She used to be a literacy teacher for women and every year she would voluntarily train her entire class on various traditional handicrafts such as straw weaving and pottery making. She has trained over 400 women so far,” Abbadi said.

Following the footsteps of her mother, the young artist started her own teaching project in 2017, combining art and tradition. 

“It aims to empower young women, through the practice of henna body art, enabling them to create their own sources of income,” she said, noting that around 30 young women have so far benefited from this project.

Suhair Hamed, who has been training with Abbadi intermittently for over a year, satisfying a “passion” for art and an interest in the traditional dye, shared her learning experience with The Jordan Times.

“It requires precision and a steady hand as the drawings are usually very small and detailed. It’s also hard to fix mistakes in henna body art, especially when you’re still a beginner, as the dye quickly leaves its trace on the skin,” she said.

Hamed is hoping to master henna body art so as to practise it professionally and use it to make an income.

During the outbreak of the pandemic, Abbadi was determined to continue her work.

She said: “Since we weren’t able to reach our customers and do henna body art due to lockdowns and social distancing measures, we made packages, each with a bag of henna dye and a collection of stickers of different drawings and patterns, which customers can stick anywhere they want and fill with henna”.

She also launched the “Bulqees Henna” application, which links artists with customers. It aims to promote and familiarise people with the various artworks of local female henna artists, while also providing visitors with a brief history on the use of henna body art in Jordan, according to Abbadi.

She noted that although there aren’t any works displayed on the application yet, some new developments are “underway” to redesign the app so that it features “several profiles for different henna artists, showcasing each of their works”.

Al Khader Street, where Abbadi’s shop is located, is a winding road which is one of Salt’s famous tourist attractions receiving visitors with a variety of historical buildings, some of which dating back to the 19th century. 

Ending near Al Salt Great Mosque, it’s also known as the Harmony Street, due to the religious harmony exemplified by the Muslims and Christians living in that area for centuries.