An Artist in Dialogue: Lama Alotaibi

This November, Saudi artist Lama Alotaibi brings her work to London’s Mall Galleries. Her painting You & I Don’t Kiss Goodbye has been selected for the Discerning Eye 2026 exhibition, running from 13 to 21 November, a milestone in the journey of an emerging artist who returned to painting after a long career outside the creative world. Based in London, Lama works primarily in oil, while moving freely between acrylic, pencil and oil pastel. Her portraits and figures explore the subtle gap between what we feel inside and what we show the world, capturing the fleeting moments before the social mask goes on.

To mark the exhibition, we sat down with Lama to talk about her materials, her inspirations, her return to art and where she hopes to go next.

Get to Know Lama

Q: What materials do you usually use in your art?

Lama: I primarily work in oil, but I love experimenting with acrylic, pencil and oil pastel too. I don’t restrict myself to one medium. I just follow whatever feels right for the painting.

Q: What inspires your art?

Lama: I’m very interested in people and stories, in particular the gap between our internal experiences and what we show to the world. There’s something so fascinating and intimate about those moments before we put on a social mask, when we haven’t quite arranged ourselves for others. I try to explore that in my paintings.

More broadly, I also find inspiration in other forms of art: literature, music and photography. I find it’s all connected. Another person’s way of seeing can spark an idea for my own work. I love that chain reaction; you never quite know where an idea will travel.

Q: Have you faced any challenges during your artistic journey?

Lama: I recently returned to painting after a very long gap, building a career outside of the creative space. At first, I felt disconnected from my own voice. I spent so much time questioning my style and who I was as an artist. But I realised art is about giving myself permission to play, without needing every painting to prove something or cater to a specific audience. That brought back a sense of joy and freedom I’d been missing.

There’s something incredibly powerful about turning an experience or an emotion into something tangible and sharing it with the world. I want to keep the joy of that at the centre of my practice and let everything else grow from there.

Q: Do you often use a particular theme or symbol in your art?

Lama: I keep coming back to portraits and the human figure. You’ll see that in my work. Something about it makes the painting feel “alive”. But I’m less interested in capturing a likeness than in translating the emotional intensity, while leaving the story behind it open to interpretation.

Q: What is the story or meaning behind your artwork “You & I Don’t Kiss Goodbye”?

Lama: I don’t tend to interpret my art too much because it’s such a subjective experience, and I like hearing how others see their own stories in it. To me, You & I Don’t Kiss Goodbye is about the heaviness of a loose ending, one that comes without declarations and with so much left unsaid. It’s about walking away from someone while a part of you still hopes they’ll stop you.

Q: What do you want people to feel or understand when they see your art?

Lama: I’d like my art to be a mirror, for someone to come up against a part of themselves when they look at it. It’s wonderful if they’re drawn to the beauty of it, the colours or composition. But I’d love for something to stay with them beyond that, and I want that connection to feel accessible without needing an explanation. They don’t have to see what I see; I’d love for the painting to become personal to them.

Q: How do you want your art to grow in the future?

Lama: I want to be bolder: in scale, in colour, and in the topics I’m willing to explore. I’d love to take on bigger projects and give myself more room to experiment. I’m also interested in collaborating with other artists across all creative disciplines. I’d like to see what happens when my work meets a different way of thinking and making.

At the same time, I don’t want to map everything out. Part of the excitement is giving the work room to take me somewhere I hadn’t planned.

Art as Permission to Play

Lama's artistic practice reflects an interest in the experiences that people carry but may not always express. Through portraits, colour, and the human figure, she creates paintings that invite personal interpretation rather than offering a single meaning. Her return to painting has also become an opportunity to reconnect with the freedom of creating, allowing curiosity and experimentation to shape her evolving artistic voice.

With You & I Don't Kiss Goodbye selected for Discerning Eye 2026 in London, Lama is taking another step in sharing her work internationally. As she looks towards larger projects, new materials, and creative collaborations, she hopes to continue making paintings that connect with people through their own memories, emotions, and experiences.

Stay close to Lama’s evolving artistic practice and upcoming projects through lamaartspace.com and @lama.artspace.

Are you an artist with a story to share?

We’d love to hear from you! Reach out to share your own artistic journey.