Nawal Awad, breakout Djiboutian artist

Did you hear it here first?  Nawal Awad studied Beaux Arts in Belgium.  She is now a pedagogical adviser at the CFPEN, and teaches arts and crafts in schools.  She launched an art exhibit tonight at the Kempinski Palace, much to the pleasure of her assembled colleagues and friends.  Ranging from oils on canvas to ink on cloth and acrylic over burlap, her work is infused with the chaos and emotion of the life and love of a Muslim woman.  Contrasting reds and blues, geometric movements and one-word titles typify her work.  It was my closest glimpse yet into the minds of my Djibouti counterparts, and rare evidence of practiced artistic expression for this region.  Unfortunately, she may have out-priced her audience.  Even though the showing will be held throughout the month of December in the halls of a hotel that rents rooms at $500/night, there still weren't a lot of folks at the showing who could scrounge up $1500 for one of her paintings.