My name is Nataly Nicolas-Hachem. I am Lebanese by birth, and an artist by calling. The trials I face in my country have made me aware of how precious and brief life is. Indeed, there have been both tragedies and triumphs, and I have found strength and courage in these to survive the difficult times and follow my dreams.

A painter, a pianist, and a poet I am considered a polyvalent artist. But my true passion is painting. I started drawing when I was 2 years old, and ever since I have been fascinated by the world of art.

At 20, I left to Paris where I became a student of “Plastic Arts” at the Sorbonne University. After I returned back to Lebanon I continued my studies in music at the USEK University and started teaching music and art in English and American schools.

What I love most is drawing portraits. The faces of people intrigue me. There are expressions that touch me—a movement or a posture. I use my pencils and colors to personalize these and capture their beauty in a drawing or a painting, immortalizing their feelings for the whole world to see, to understand, and to admire. The portraits and figures I paint are of dreamers. They have something in their gaze and features that resemble mine. This is normal because they are my way of expression.

Life is mysterious and we all wish to understand it: we cross a path or a bridge without knowing where we are going. It is towards this nowhere that my models look. It is towards this mysterious world that my boats, my paths, and my bridges are leading.

When I paint I feel I am in a world of my own creation. A place where time doesn’t exist. I paint in such a way that all the ugliness of this world, with all its problems and wars disappear. And what remains is joy, and peace of mind

Living in Lebanon, where wars are constantly on and off, is very hard. The horrors of those wars that I was forced to witness didn’t stop me from dreaming and achieving my goals. Although sometimes I had to struggle to keep that image of beauty engraved in my mind.

My love for painting gives me strength, endurance and perseverance. It inspires me to continue creating beauty to replace all the ugliness and horror that my eyes have seen. Wars can never defeat and kill my dreams. I shall keep on fighting, making a way for my paintings to be known and appreciated in the entire world.
                        
Nataly Nicolas-Hachem