Creating a Magical Reality
Stefania Nazzal (b. 1976) is a Swiss artist living and working in Dubai.
Nazzal trained at the Cyprus Academy of Art and at Central Saint Martins in London. Through a meticulous mixed-media process, she investigates how light disperses through space—creating compositions that feel simultaneously intuitive and paradoxical.
In a deeply layered artistic process, Nazzal meticulously selects each element and nuance shift as a means to dissect colors: both those we perceive in nature and those that remain hidden.
Her works employ a rich palette of repurposed PVC threads, balancing between solidity and fluidity. She has transformed these materials—commonly used in more pliable forms such as friendship bracelets and keychains—into sculptural streams that flow like thoughts.
“A perfect curve bending beyond the sky, with no end in sight… Fables tell of treasures awaiting true believers. A spectrum of colors, brilliant hues that bring me joy and happiness, Slowly fading into a haze of light. Magical to the core, into a world of fantasy and colorful imagination…”
“Somewhere” by Stefania Nazzal
“Creating a magical reality”
“For me, art is deeply influenced by the natural world. The generous forces of nature have always carried and guided me, offering a glimmer of hope and a sense of magic during challenging times. I began my artistic practice by focusing on natural light as a spectrum, investigating how color gradients can offer a glimpse of the sublime.
My sculptures and reliefs are labor-intensive and meditative. By bending shapes and colors, I work with materiality in both its perfection and distortion, moving away from two-dimensional formats. By manipulating sightlines through different hues, I create movement. In my work, the sculptural permanence of thousands of juxtaposed threads becomes an expressive gesture of time and light.
My work is an attempt to give form to fleeting moments: the sunset, the spark of an idea, a playful light. I work with hard, industrial materials to approximate these experiences—experiences that cannot be grasped. I want to evoke the feeling that no single moment is ever the same when you are fully present with all the subtle shifts that unfold across time.”