Najaax Harun
Hagoogtir/Unveiling, 2024

HAGOOGTIR—meaning “unveiling”—reflects Najaax’s resolve to illuminate the obscured realities shaping women’s existence. Committed to breaking the silence that has veiled these issues around the world, Najaax draws on her own experiences as part of the post-civil war generation, witnessing the persistence of outdated norms. Her paintings become a personal mission, shining light on entrenched patterns and provoking introspection. The work stands as a beacon, challenging the status quo and inviting a dialogue that inspires transformation toward a future of authenticity, awareness, and enlightenment.

“My desire to approach the canvas emerged from a profound need to understand and communicate myself to the world, carrying the stories around me.”

Najaax Harun, trapped, 2024, acrylic and oil pastels on canvas, 100 × 100 cm

Within one woman, a lineage of women is entangled.

Every woman carries within her all the eggs she will ever have, by the time she is four months in the womb. Literally connecting her existence to that of her ancestors, each of us has spent five months within our grandmothers’ wombs, linking us to the collective experience of womanhood and its burdens.

The physical body of a woman holds a sentiment of confinement.

“If only I were a man” are words echoing through generations, capturing a pervasive yearning for liberation.

Najaax Harun, stitched on one another, 2024, acrylic and oil pastels on, canvas, 100 × 100

Stitched on one another opens a dialogue on motherhood within a patriarchal framework. It examines how society imposes immense pressure on both mother and daughter, testing their bond under the weight of expectations.

Like two bodies sewn together, they move in unison, often unable to confront the looming shadow cast behind them—the unspoken demands and constraints of their roles. The tension lies in their struggle to grow apart, to assert individuality, without unraveling the delicate thread that binds them, a metaphor for the profound challenges of navigating identity and autonomy within a system that conflates womanhood and sacrifice.

Najaax Harun, The Oblation, 2024, acrylic and oil pastel, 300 × 150 cm

Oblation often symbolizes a sacrificial act or offering meant to appease deities or spirits, reflecting deep-seated rituals and beliefs.

This imagery raises a poignant question: Are we all merely offerings, awaiting our turn in the grand, often enigmatic, ritual of existence? The juxtaposition evokes a reflection on the nature of sacrifice and our place within it.