THE
MIRROR HOUSE OF KUWAIT
I am still not sure I actually saw it.
I suppose I did. I am not creative enough to have imagined it.
The only person creative enough to have imagined the Mirror House of Kuwait is the woman who build it, Lidia Al Qattan.
Lidia herself is hard to imagine. Lithe, dynamic, ingenious, charming. An artistic pixie with a political bent. A few decades ago a young Lidia left her native Italy to study English in England. There she met a charming, shy Kuwaiti artist also trying to learn the language. They fell in love and Lidia decided to return with him to the Middle East. She had no idea what to expect.
"I came to Kuwait in the '60s wearing a maxi skirt and long sleeves. But the Kuwaitis were wearing mini-skirts and short sleeves. I though 'I am a nun'."
Kuwait has long been one of the most interesting and vibrant countries in the region. Its position at the top of the Gulf has made it a centre of trade, a place where cultures meet. And where cultures meet, so do ideas. Lidia found herself in the heart of a thriving artistic community.
Her husband, Kalifa Al Qattan, went on to become one of the Gulf's most respected painters and was the subject of the first solo exhibit by an Arabian artist in China. Lidia herself painted, made cultural program for Kuwaiti radio, wrote columns for newspapers, and authored a meticulously researched book on the rulers of Kuwait. They had a child and both worked out of their two story house in the suburbs of Kuwait City.
They were good times but something was brewing. The usually cheerful Kalifa was painting some very dark images: tortured souls and burning cities. And Lidia’s creativity started bursting out in unexpected ways. Once, When Kalifa was away at an art show, she decorated their slightly shabby dinning room cabinet with shards of mirrors, making a glittering diamond out of a piece of used furniture.
Kalifa liked the surprise remodeling and encouraged Lidia to do some more experimenting. They found a mirror factory and asked for their broken pieces.
Seventy-seven tons of mirror, 102 gallons of white glue, forty-four tons of white cements and many years later, Lidia has covered almost every surface in their house, inside and out (with the exception of Kalifa's studio on the second floor) with mirror mosaics. She used different hues and thicknesses to create texture and patterns. There are shooting stars on the ceiling, quotes from the Koran on the walls and intricate patterns on the floor. There are angels and apples, dolphins and grapes, birds and planets.
The bathroom glitters with mirrored swordfish and seaweed, swirling waves and leaping fish. Even the toilet lid has golden rays emanating from a blue center. The effect is overwhelming, but nuanced.
It is joyful house, but not haphazard. It is an entire, coherent work of art. Every mosaic had a purpose, every room a theme.
The living room is Planet Earth, complete with mosaics of plants and fish. The ceiling features the entire solar system in multi-coloured mirrors.
The hallway is the Corridor of Nations. On the top of the wall (between the birds frozen in mirrored flight) is a quote from the Koran that states God has no preference for one nation over another and that only those who respect each other are blessed.
Their daughter's bedroom was done towards the end of the project, and in record time, as it had to be finished before she returned from the U.S. where had was just completing a degree in aeronautical engineering. In keeping with her interests, it became the Zodiac Room, featuring constellations made from glow-in-the-dark stars.
Other rooms include the Basin Of The Sharks (back hallway), Inside The Sea (the bathroom), Hidden World (pantry), Room of Knowledge (library), and the Room Of The Universe (master bedroom, complete with the Big Bang and an exploding supernova -- you can take the girl out of Italy but....).
The Stairs Of Inspiration lead to the second floor where Lidia and Kalifa have their painting studios. There are no more mirrors but Lidia still manages to push the boundaries of art. One room, festooned with more glow-in-the-dark stars, has a fabric wall. All visitors are encouraged to throw velcro-backed, multi-coloured triangles at the wall, ninjastar-style. Lidia then 'reads' the patterns to tell you your personality.
But is it Kalifa's art that dominates up here. His paintings are displayed in his private galleries, clustered by theme. One room contains a delightful group of portraits called 'Ladies I Met'.
Here also are the dark, disturbing paintings Kalifa produced in the '60s. The ones of the chocking black smoke and mutilated bodies that clashed so jarringly with his usually easygoing personality.
When he first showed them to the world they were considered shocking. Now they are considered prophetic. These painting predicted, in astounding detail, the horror of the Iraqi invasion. From the burning of the oil wells, to the torture techniques used by the Iraqis, to the number of nations that supported Saddam. It is all there. As painted twenty years before the first tanks rolled across the border. Choose your own explanation. I have none.
The war had a profound effect on Kalifa and Lidia. Lidia had placed mosaics with the Kuwaiti colours on their outer wall long before the invasion. When the Iraqis saw them, they were almost killed. Many were shot for less. And some of Kalifa's relatives had been among them. According to Kalifa, almost anything would set off the invaders, 'they would say, if you don't take off your beard we will take off your head'.
In Kalifa's office, among his many awards, is a bulletin board full of gut wrenching photos from the invasion. On his lapel, he wears a pin commemorating the hundred of Kuwaiti POWs that are still missing.
Those times are still with them, especially now. Yet together, he and Lidia have still managed create a house-sized work of art that is full of delight and wonder. Of glow-in-the-dark stars and glittering dolphins. An unexpected monument to the ultimate triumph of art, love and respect.
I certainly could not have imagined it. But I am sure glad Lidia did.
