Nadia Sultan
Nadia Sultan was born in April 1955, in Aleppo - Syria. Her father, Ali Muzaffar, was the pioneer of the Arabic short story in Syria. She read architecture in Aleppo University then worked for the Municipality of Aleppo and for the Health Service in Damascus for about five years.
In the early 1990's, she developed her flair for painting (plastic), her themes centred mainly on pastoral (i.e. the predominant trees of olives, pistachios, pomegranates, cherries) and inner Old Aleppo (i.e. the souks and what could be had there like the famous Aleppo laurel soap, the thyme mix, hand-made brooms, and gold and silver jewellery). That in addition to the famous Aleppo limestone quarries: in short what strikes one as unique in Aleppo.
Her first personal exhibition took place in 1992 where more than 50 watercolours were displayed and was entitled Aleppo, the Gift of God. Her second comprised oil as well as watercolours where the revenue was given to the needy. In 1995 she held her first personal exhibition in Toronto, then, in 1997, in Toronto and Montreal. There followed a series of personal and shared exhibitions both in Canada and in Aleppo.
In 1999 she settled in Canada - Toronto - for good and joined Le levant which is a society for the foreign artists in the Country.
She holds the view that Art should be made available to everyone and not belong to the elite few, be them rich or art connoisseurs; in this regard she seems to refer to the artists themselves and to those who involve themselves with artistic production, anyhow. As an artist, her heart goes to ordinary, often unhappy people and paints for them to make them feel better, should they feel lonely or neglected. In short her artistic achievement is positive and unselfish.
Ms Sultan is a practising Muslim who takes her religion seriously (though not fanatically). In August 1999, she received a diploma for the recital of the Holy Qur'an as recited by Assem via Hafs.
She also gave vent to her views by writing as she wrote articles for a number of papers in Aleppo and Damascus and also for al-faisal magazine in Saudi Arabia. She has also written and published two books: the first entitled Painting Through Words which is succinctly about the painted elements in the Holy Qur'an, published in 1995; the second a Reading in the Painting of the Veil which is an excellent retort to those who are against the concept of veiling Muslim women, published in 1997. After settling in Toronto, she wrote for The Arab Star periodical, where a special column was allotted to her in which she dealt with the day's topical issues from the view point of the Holy Qur'an and the Sunneh.
Ms Sultan taught too: she taught Arabic and the content and recital of the Holy Qur'an in a number of Muslim schools in Toronto. She lectured in the Sadeq Islamic School about furthering education, and conducted an instructive course to the teachers in Muslim Education Network Training & Outreach Service, offering advanced ideas about teaching the Holy Qur'an to the Muslim young in North America in an interesting and enjoyable way. She also devised and talked about ways that help curb violence amongst the various ethnic, cultural, and religious groups of students. She provided InterTraMa Corp. with the Arabic content and its English equivalent and participated in devising the curriculum of Arabic Advantage.
In July of 2001, she received a prize on Canada Day from the Society of Forward Muslims in Ontario and in September 2002, nominated by Arab Star, she received the prize from Multicultural Ethnic Press for the artistic, literary, and instructive rôle she played in the society there.
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