Founder's Review

“Between Anatomy and Soul: The Metamorphic Art of Ghada Ben Hassan”

 

When you encounter Ghada Ben Hassan, you sense her artistic world before you ever see a drawing. There is a rare coherence in the way she exists—where the artist, the doctor, and the human being are not separate identities, but a single, evolving presence. Her work mirrors this seamlessness. Each gesture, each line, carries a quiet tension between fragility and strength, intellect and intuition. Ghada does not merely depict the human form; she listens to it. Her gaze is anatomical yet poetic, informed by medical precision but guided by emotional intelligence. She dissects not flesh, but what animates it—memory, emotion, and the invisible pulse that defines our inner lives.

 

As a self-taught artist who began drawing in childhood, Ghada’s practice has grown through introspection and observation rather than formal constraint. Working primarily in charcoal and watercolor, she navigates the space between realism and abstraction, allowing vulnerability and resilience to coexist on the same surface. Her process is one of sublimation—an alchemical transformation where psychological states and lived experience become tangible form. The assertiveness of her charcoal meets the ethereality of watercolor in a dialogue that reflects the dualities she continually explores: presence and absence, connection and solitude, the mental and the physical. Each work transcends its materials, becoming something greater than the sum of its parts.

 

Across the visible evolution of her practice—its eras and metamorphoses—one element remains constant: an unmistakable, deeply human imprint. It is ineffable yet persistent, a quiet insistence of spirit that endures through every transformation. Beyond the depth of her vision, Ghada remains profoundly grounded—humble, attentive, and sincerely present. Her artistry extends beyond the page and into the way she moves through the world, with empathy, curiosity, and warmth. Through this issue of Explore Art and those features yet to come, may Ghada Ben Hassan continue to interpret and transmute the world—with the precision of a doctor, the sensitivity of an artist, and the generosity of a true friend.

​

Living Artfully,

Renée L. Rose

Founder/Explore Art