patricia millns
B. 1950, Nottingham England
Patricia Millns, a fellow at the Royal Society of Arts in London, is a versatile artist who works with a number of materials and doesn’t define her style with closed borders – it is often left to the interpretation of the viewer. Having lived in the Middle East for over 3 decades, she is a pioneer in the regional art scene.
She moved to Kuwait from her homeland in the United Kingdom in the 1980s. She explains that she was intrigued by the region after she obtained a master’s degree in Art History, where she learnt that origin of many things she thought to be European, such as medicine, mathematics, irrigation, and more, were actually Arabian. Her insatiable curiosity and desire to learn more led her way to Kuwait, where she felt warmly welcomed and saw that people understood art like nowhere else. In Kuwait, she taught miniature painting at one of the Islamic Art museums, and made the crucial discovery of the importance and appreciation of fragrance in a way different from the West, which greatly affected her work.
Mills was forced to leave Kuwait during the Gulf War of 1991 and has since divided her time between Oman and the UAE. Her main influences over the past years, have been the stories and the people of Arabia – particularly the women, coupled with spiritual meanings underneath illusions seen on the surface.
EXHIBITIONS
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
Sultan Gallery – Kuwait, 1986.
Oman Sequence, British Museum – London, United Kingdom, 2004.
‘Messages’, Barbara Stanley Gallery – London, United Kingdom, 2005/06.
Thob Sequence, EFAS (Sharjah Biennial Exhibition) – Sharjah, UAE, 2007.
Protection Sequence, DIFC – Dubai, UAE, 2007.
Ghutra Sequence, Art Dubai Project Artist – Dubai, UAE, 2007.
Agal Sequence The Gate, DIFC – Dubai, UAE, 2008.
‘If there ever was...’ University of Sunderland UK, Cuchifrios Gallery – New York USA, 2008.
‘Memory’, EFAS – Sharjah, UAE, 2008.
‘Emra’a’, Dar al Funoon – Kuwait, 2009.
‘Point of Encounter’, Tashkeel – Dubai, UAE, 2009.
Emra’a Sequence, Art Dubai Project Artist – Dubai, UAE, 2009.