Tala Worrell (b. 1991) was born in New York City in 1991 and raised in Abu Dhabi. Wor- rell’s cultural exposure as a Lebanese American woman raised in the United Arab Emir- ates is steeped in diverse sets of values; prevailing is the necessity of acceptance and openness to conflicting ways of understanding.

Through this lens, Worrell’s approach to abstraction is distilled in the belief that every aesthetic decision involves the resolution of ethical dilemmas.

In her democratic use of materials – oils, alkyds, and industrial paints are as valuable as less common media like za’atar, chia seeds, and sesame seeds – Worrell poignantly reflects on her multivalent background

Dichotomies fuel Worrell’s work, which involves wideranging experimental processes, and she employs tensions in the contrasts of surfaces, material choices, and chromatic decisions to her advantage as she considers and processes quotidian physical and visual encounters. In her works, Worrell deftly navigates the shifting tides where ‘East and West, ’ religious and secular, familial and individual, and psychological and somatic converge.