Intimate Portraits

An Introduction to Singapore-based Belgian Artist Nasrine Chaoui

Working primarily on wood, Belgian artist Nasrine Chaoui explains that her unusual choice of material stems from its rigid, inflexible qualities. “The composition of my artwork comes more naturally while painting on hard surfaces like wood,” she says. “The stiffness of the material results in a kind of physical resistance to the brush that challenges my limitations and brings my repressed feelings into consciousness.”

Based in Singapore, Chaoui explains that it was her mother — who was also an artist — who first inspired her to make art. “I have been surrounded by art from a very young age,” says the artist. “As a child, my mother would often take me to the museums. I was living in Brussels then, and the two of us would often travel by train to Bruges, Paris or Amsterdam to see art exhibitions.”