Manama: A creative cancer patient has been inspired by the success of her charity art exposition to plan a photography exhibition to help young people battling the disease.
“I am working on having the exhibition on February 4 as it coincides with World Cancer Day,” Dayana Al Shaikh, a well-known painter and photographer, said. “This time, it will be a photo exhibition featuring photographs, and each of them will have its own story to share with the local and international communities,” she said.
Dayana, who has been fighting cancer and campaigning for the battling it, last month held a charity exhibition that raised funds for Child’s Wish Society, a Bahraini charity that grants wishes to children suffering from illnesses.
“Letters of Hope” was a collection of Arabic calligraphy paintings that also shed Dayana’s own experience in drawing on her unshakable faith and immovable hope to fight breast cancer.
The 42 paintings featured in the October exhibition were sold within hours of the opening of the exhibition.
“I am deeply grateful to all those who have shown me their support, be it in person or through messages and prayers,” Dayana said. “It was a momentous occasion for me, but, more importantly for the young hearts and minds who need every cheer and every support we can provide. The exhibition showed me again that our world is beautiful thanks to the commitment and devotion of those who people it, and that it is also amazing thanks to their care and compassion,” she was quoted by Bahrain News Agency as saying.
Dayana said that the presence of Eisa Al Hammadi, the information and parliament affairs minister, at the opening of the exhibition was a great indication of his support for noble causes and for Bahraini artists.
“I am grateful he took time off his busy schedule and spent a long time at the exhibition, looking at the paintings, asking questions and mingling with the visitors,” she said.
“I am also grateful to the diplomats who came and showed their own care and support and that of their communities. The presence of Turkish Ambassador Hatun Demirer and US Ambassador William Roebuck was really heart-warming. I am grateful to all my relatives and friends, as well as to the other visitors to the exhibition who voiced and expressed support,” she said.
In her photos posted in her Instagram account where she has more than 12,500 followers, Dayana highlights the beauty of natural landscapes and sites and shares messages of resolute hope and unwavering fortitude.
Her natural landscape pictures and her messages about the battle against cancer and the prayers for cancer fighters are often praised by her followers.
“The way she takes her pictures gives them a magical dimension that enchants you immediately,” one follower said. “You may have seen the place dozens of times, but when you see it in her picture, you have the impression you are looking at something new, something magical that makes you keep you staring and wondering how you had never noticed how beautiful it really is. The place suddenly oozes peace and serenity and you find yourself strongly attached to it and happily relaxed.”
The international community marks World Cancer Day on February 4 in a hopeful bid to raise awareness about cancer and to encourage its prevention, detection, and treatment.
World Cancer Day was founded by the Union for International Cancer Control to support the goals of the World Cancer Declaration, written in 2008.
