At Buro247 Middle East, we are committed to showcasing and celebrating the extraordinary talent in the Arab world. With our column, #BuroSpotlights, we bring you stories of pioneering artists, innovative designers, tech trailblazers, cinematic visionaries, sports stars, and more.
This week, #BuroSpotlights Saudi Artist Heba Ismail.
In Jeddah, there’s a young Saudi artist who has coined an entirely new movement, and she isn’t afraid to claim her place alongside the greats. Heba Ismail, a dentist by profession and painter by obsession, calls her practice “Hebaism,” a term she invented to describe her Picasso-inspired visual language. Her ambition is unapologetic: “I want to be the female Picasso,” she says, and her canvases prove she isn’t speaking lightly.
Growing up in a home where art and history were part of daily conversation, Heba’s first encounter with Picasso wasn’t in a museum but in her own living room. A large replica of Guernica hung on the wall, its stark chaos simultaneously frightening and fascinating her as a child. That tension — between beauty and discomfort, between fear and intrigue — has stayed with her. Today, it pulses through her angular portraits and maximalist lines.
What Is Hebaism?
Hebaism takes the cubist deconstruction that Picasso pioneered and injects it with a distinctly Arab sensibility. Heba’s works often feature figures dressed in traditional Saudi and Arab clothing, accented with motifs like coffee cups and scarves. The result is both deeply local and universally resonant. She doesn’t want her paintings to dictate what to think, but to stir emotion, to act almost like therapy for the viewer.
Heba calls her art her “personal diary.” Each canvas carries the weight of lived experience, whether joy, loss, or trauma. Her thick black lines and bold shapes are ways of processing memory and emotion. “Art pieces shouldn’t tell you how to think,” she explains. “They should tell you how to feel.” That ethos is precisely why Hebaism feels fresh. It’s not an imitation of cubism, but an expansion of it, rooted in her personal story and cultural heritage. While her practice is deeply tied to her Saudi heritage, Heba wants her art to speak to all Arabs and, eventually, to audiences worldwide.
In a global art scene where originality often feels elusive, Heba has managed to carve out a style that is undeniably her own. Hebaism is not just about reviving cubism, but about reframing it through a Saudi lens that is bold, contemporary, and emotionally raw. Her work challenges the viewer, asking them to confront not only cultural identity but their own inner landscape.
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