Beyond the Visible: A Conversation with Artist Marianne Fanous
There is a quiet sense of joy and discovery at the heart of Marianne Fanous's artistic practice. Working across painting and mixed media, the Egyptian artist combines vibrant colour, rich texture and spontaneous gestures with an instinctive approach to composition. Her works are not created to deliver a single fixed message; instead, they invite the viewer into an open visual experience where colour, movement and emotion can be felt before they are understood.
Fanous came to art from an unconventional background, having studied pharmacy and biotechnology rather than formally training as an artist. This distance from traditional art education has become an important part of her practice, allowing experimentation, curiosity and play to remain central to the way she works. Her paintings often draw on nature, the Egyptian landscape, memory and spirituality, while her Christian faith provides a deeper sense of hope that runs through her work.
From palm trees and cultivated fields to layers of paint, metallic surfaces and unexpected marks, Fanous finds beauty in both the familiar and the overlooked. Her approach is ultimately about freedom , trusting the process, allowing surprises to emerge, and creating work that carries a sense of life.
In this conversation, Marianne Fanous speaks about finding art during a difficult period in her life, the freedom of being self-taught, the role of faith and Egyptian identity in her work, and why preserving a sense of childlike wonder may be one of the most important things an artist can do.
1. You studied pharmacy and biotechnology before turning to art, coming from a very different academic background. When did you realise that art was not simply an interest or a hobby, but something you needed to pursue seriously?
I realised how important art was to me when I went through a very severe period of depression after the birth of my daughter. I felt as if I were in a dark hole, and I was surprised by this urgent need to play with colours , not necessarily to produce a beautiful or impressive painting, but simply because there was an explosive energy inside me that needed to come out.
2. You are a self-taught artist who developed your practice through experimentation and experience. How has this path influenced the way you work and the way you understand painting?
I believe that the ultimate purpose of my journey has always been enjoyment and expression, rather than necessarily expressing deep philosophical ideas.
Because I did not receive formal training in art, I was given the freedom to experiment and discover my own style without having to follow a strict set of rules or conventions. That freedom has been very important to me.
3. You describe your approach to painting as spontaneous and intuitive. When you begin a new work, do you usually have a clear image or idea in mind, or do you allow the painting to reveal itself as you work?
Sometimes I feel the need for an element of surprise. I work through many layers and allow the painting to make its own choices, following it wherever it wants to take me.
At other times, I have a subject in mind and try to express it as fully as possible, giving it patience, thought, and time rather than rushing my decisions. I allow the work to mature.
And sometimes I begin purely through intuition, and at a certain point the subject reveals itself to me. Then I follow it.
4. There is a strong sense of movement and spontaneity in your paintings, yet your compositions often feel remarkably balanced. How do you know when a painting has reached the moment when you should stop?
Most of the time, this is difficult to distinguish.
I have learned to treat the work almost like a relationship between two people. When the relationship becomes tense, I know I need to stop, walk away, and give us both time to calm down. Then I return to it with a quiet mind and look at it with fresh eyes. Very often, I discover that the solution is simple and that I was simply tired and needed rest and distance.
I know a painting is finished when I smile because I have tasted something special in it. I feel a sense of fulfilment and gratitude.
5. Faith is an important part of your artistic life. How does your Christian faith shape the way you see the world, and how does it appear in your paintings without turning them into direct religious imagery?
My faith is the centre of my life and shapes the way I see life as a whole.
I do not necessarily see myself as a religious person. Rather, I live with God in what I feel is the most beautiful love relationship within my soul. Because of this, I express in my paintings a life filled with hope and love.
I express my joy, my admiration for His creation, and my awareness of His care and unique presence in the details of everyday life.
I do not want my paintings to carry negative energy or a spirit of despair. Instead, I pray that they carry life and hope, and that they point towards God - towards His beauty and His glory - for those who see them or bring them into their homes.
6. You draw a great deal of inspiration from nature, agriculture, palm trees, and the Egyptian landscape. What do these elements represent to you beyond their visible appearance?
Palm trees are among the strongest symbols for me. They are strong, tall, and majestic, yet they also bend when storms come.
Their height does not make them break. Instead, they deepen their roots and continue growing and bearing fruit, even under the most difficult conditions. They can bear fruit in the depths of the desert without stopping.
They are truly remarkable plants.
And as an Egyptian, I also feel that palm trees are deeply rooted in my memory. They have always been there.
7. The Egyptian landscape appears in your work not simply as a place, but almost as a feeling or state of being. What aspects of Egypt - its colours, land, light, traditions, or everyday details have the greatest influence on your visual language?
I am very proud to be an Egyptian Coptic woman. I love my country sincerely and with great admiration, and I am proud of my history, my land, and my people.
Egypt gives me a sense of belonging, roots, home, and warmth.
When I paint an Egyptian detail, I feel as though I am saying in my own visual language, "Look at all this beauty!"
I want to dig beneath the noise and chaos and uncover the hidden places of beauty that are still there.
8. Fields and cultivated land can be understood as symbols of growth, patience, and resilience. Do these ideas enter your work consciously, or do they emerge naturally from your personal relationship with these landscapes?
Bearing fruit and growing are expressions of life itself. I love to contemplate them and to be spiritually moved by them.
I want my own life to be fruitful and to bring goodness and life to humanity.
9. Your paintings often combine bright colours, powerful movement, and rich texture, while also containing moments of quiet contemplation. What state of mind or feeling do you hope the viewer experiences when standing before your work?
I constantly move between two powerful feelings.
One is energy, enthusiasm, joy, movement, and overflowing emotion. I want the viewer to feel as though they are watching a joyful dance.
The other is deep quiet, peace, contentment, and surrender.
I also love the idea that the viewer might experience a sense of natural, living harmony almost as if they were deep beneath the sea, contemplating curves and forms that are united in spirit and complete in their beauty.
10. You work with acrylic, oil, watercolour, ink, acrylic pens, and mixed media. What attracts you to working with different materials, and how does each medium change the way you express an idea?
I am a very diverse person. I love renewal and surprise, and I am naturally drawn to unconventional things. I also have a great curiosity to experiment.
Each material introduces something new and unexpected. This makes the process more enjoyable to me, makes the work more interesting to look at, and gives me a sense of freedom and of breaking through limitations.
11. Metallic touches and richly layered surfaces appear in your work as subtle yet powerful details. What role do texture and materiality play in your paintings?
Texture is very important to me. I love the idea that the viewer does not only look at the work, but also feels an impulse to touch it with their fingers.
I want the viewer to notice the way light falls across the surface and how the painting changes under different lighting conditions. Each kind of light can create a different feeling.
This adds a great deal of richness to the work.
12. You have spoken about the importance of play and experimentation in your painting. How important is this sense of play to you as an adult artist? What can spontaneity reveal that a more controlled approach cannot?
I always like to find the simplest path rather than making things unnecessarily complicated.
Making art simple gives me the courage to begin without stopping to tell myself that I am not capable of doing it. It allows me to move forward from that first point, which can sometimes feel very intimidating.
When we encourage ourselves with the idea of "Start and enjoy the journey" rather than "Create something impressive", that is where the difference lies.
That is when the work becomes honest.
13. You describe creativity as a form of trust. What does "trust" mean to you while you are painting, especially when you do not know where the work will take you?
Yes, trust means moving forward and surrendering to the outcome instead of becoming tense through attempts to control everything.
It means giving space to beautiful surprises.
14. There is a sense of childlike wonder in some of your works. Why do you think curiosity and the ability to see the world with fresh eyes are important qualities for an artist?
Very often, as we grow older, we lose our sense of childlike wonder. And when that happens, life can lose its taste. We stop enjoying things.
One of God's gifts to us is the ability to preserve our innocence - to be able to taste what is beautiful and receive it with our souls.
I always try to stop, slow down, feel, and enjoy that sense of wonder, and to give it a place in my work.
15. Your paintings do not tell a specific story, yet they seem to invite the viewer to create their own. Do you prefer to leave the meaning of a work open, allowing each person to bring their own memories and emotions to it?
Sometimes I like to give the painting a word or a title - a small key that allows the viewer to understand something of what was happening inside me , and then I leave the rest of the thread for them to follow and fill with their own impressions and details.
At other times, I include words almost like a line of poetry, so that the work carries deeper and more clearly articulated details that can move the heart.
16. If someone stood in front of one of your paintings without knowing anything about you, your faith, or your Egyptian background, what is the one feeling you would hope could still reach them?
I want them to feel that there is hope in this life, and that the story is not over yet.
17. As you look towards the next stage of your artistic journey, are there aspects of your identity, environment, or spiritual experience that you feel you have not yet explored through painting?
Absolutely.
Painting always takes me from one stage to another and evolves in ways that are not planned. It is an enjoyable adventure of discovering new layers within myself.
18. If you could describe what you hope your paintings give to the people who encounter them, what feeling would you want to remain with them?
I hope they take with them the simplicity of beauty and smile because of it.
Closing Thoughts
Perhaps the most important thing I want my work to carry is life.
I hope that people will see that my paintings reflect the way I have chosen to live , holding firmly to hope and faith.
Even after I am no longer there to explain them, I hope my works will continue to speak in their own way: carrying life, reflecting hope, and reminding people that beauty can be simple, joyful, and deeply meaningful.
written by Eva Ellwood
