Roya Ebrahim Male Art

Roya Ebrahim (b. 1995) is a Jewish Iranian artist based in Tehran, who paints Israeli gay men in oil on paper.

Studies: Parand Azad University (graphic design major), Eastern Mediterranean University Cyprus (Visual communication and design).

Exhibitions: Mads Milano (Milan Italy), Royal Blue Gallery (London, UK), Exile Gallery (Famagusta, Cyprus), EMU Exhibition Hall (Famagusta, Cyprus), Rostam Gallery (Nicosia, Cyprus).

In her own words:

"When I was just a toddler, my dad and I went to Germany for what was supposed to be a short visit to see family. Somehow, that visit turned into a four-year stay. We eventually returned to Iran when I was seven, and that's when school started for me.

But life took a painful turn when I was eight, as I lost my dad. He meant everything to me, and his passing left me numb. For over ten years, I couldn't allow myself to feel anything. It was like a survival instinct, I just shut off my emotions to cope.

But amid that emotional fog, one thing remained constant—my love for painting. It was always there, despite me not being able to articulate it, it was quietly waiting for me to notice. So when it came time to pick a major, I was pretty lost. Graphic design seemed like a decent choice—artsy yet practical. Little did I know, a cancelled drawing class in university would change everything.

I still remember that day vividly. Instead of our regular class, we were sent to join a drawing session for painting majors. As I walked in, I saw this guy completely engrossed in his artwork. It was like he was pouring his soul onto the canvas. I didn't fully understand it then, but I knew I wanted whatever he had.

So I started attending his classes outside of university, and soon, I was hooked. I practically lived in that drawing club, first as a regular, then as a manager, and eventually, as a co-owner. But life had other plans, and the pandemic hit. My plan to study in Canada were cancelled, so I ended up in Cyprus, finishing my degree amidst a whirlwind of challenges. Despite the setbacks, my passion for art never wavered. I exhibited my work in a group exhibition in Milan and London, and Cyprus and I also had 2 solo exhibitions in Cyprus.

But I also encountered direct raw antisemitism for the first time in Cyprus which was life changing in a negative way (to say the least). Throughout it all, therapy helped me confront my fear of mortality, a fear that stemmed from losing my dad at such a young age. My therapist believes that my drive to paint people is a way of immortalizing them, of preserving their essence long after they're gone.

 Painting — it's a lifeline. It's a way of making sense of the world, of finding beauty in the chaos. With each brushstroke, I feel like I'm breathing life into something greater than myself. It's a feeling unlike any other, one that fills me with purpose. It gives back to me so I pour everything I have into it and I would have done the same even if it wouldn't give me back because I see it as something bigger than me. I put my faith into the next brushstroke because if I see it as the most important thing at that moment and also the least important thing because it is both at the same time. It exactly mirrors our human experience because each of us are the most significant unique person and at the same time we're one of one in a billion and they might sound contradictory to each other but they're one. Their death and life, they're one. One cannot exist without the other and there wouldn't be any conceptualization of life without death.