Soraya Abu Naba'a was born in 1985 in Melbourne, Florida to a Palestinian father and a mother of Lebanese descent born in the Dominican Republic.

Starting at the age of 8 years old, she began taking drawing and art classes. When she was 16, she spent the summer in Paris. Upon return, she took an intensive drawing course at Parsons University. Searching for more areas in which to develop her creativity, she took more drawing, painting and art history classes as well as introduction to fashion design courses at the Altos de Chavón School in Santo Domingo. She took an advanced drawing course focusing on the human anatomy in the Altos de Chavón School in Romana in 2006. Ms. Naba’a has been part of the Paris American Academy for 3 years, having earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. In 2008, she took a sculpture course in the Accademia di Arti, in Florence, Italy.

Her drawings cover the gamut: realistic, nude, still life and landscape. She explored various themes, including the abstract, in her paintings. It was in the latter that she focused her career. She decided to follow and explore the infinite possibilities in the world of imagination where all experiences become a story, where figures with human characteristics tell stories about life.

Greatest inspirations or influences?

My inspiration comes from human emotions, the dynamics between people, their thoughts, their attachment to the past and how it affects their present and future. In my paintings, I immerse the viewer in an abstract world where each detail represents a part of life and where the whole tells a story that could be experienced by all. Nevertheless, in my drawings, the human figure is the principal character and it transforms itself into a scene of internal conflict.

Most interesting place you have seen your art work displayed?

At the Dar Al Anda Gallery in Amman, Jordan. The gallery was founded in a house built in 1939. It has the charm of Old Amman and sits on a hill with an amazing view of the city. It gives the visitor a chance to mingle in the past and the present, from every detail in the structure to the exhibitions it holds within its’ walls.

Favorite galleries in the world?

• I love Gary Nader Fine Arts Gallery for its usage of volume; it has 55,000 sq ft. of exhibition space, and holds an important collection of Latin American, Modern and Contemporary artists. Due to the usually large number of works, the viewer has the chance to immerse himself in the timeline of the respective artists.

• I have visited many galleries during my travels in different countries, mostly attending art fairs. I must say one of my favorite pastimes while living in Paris, was gallery hopping around "Saint Germain des Pres", allowing one to relive Paris’ dominant past on the world art scene.

Other artists you love?

• I admire Francisco de Goya, mainly for his Black Paintings, the boldness of his strokes, his characters, his themes and the impact it had and still has in art.

• Pablo Picasso’s life, and his devotion to painting, he was always changing styles, defying himself and the viewer; from his realistic paintings to his cubist paintings, while excelling in every style.

• Wassilly Kandinsky, for his colors, for the movements of his strokes, where the figure vanished and the experimentation with colors and lines took over.

• Francis Bacon, for the disfiguration of his faces, how he managed to give motion and personality to his characters in flat backgrounds.

Any upcoming shows coming up?

I will take part in “The Grand Show” at Gary Nader Fine Art Gallery in Miami end of November.

In December, I will have a solo exhibit at Casas Reales Museum in Santo Domingo, DR.

Anything else you would like to share with our audience?

I believe art is a statement of its time, a tangible response to abstract life itself, where in time, an art piece will become relevant in understanding the present, thus immortalizing a piece of history.

Special thanks to my beautiful friend Gaby Bonetti for sending me Soraya's info for this interview.