GOLDEN EVENING - 2020

Solimar Miller
Mixed Media on Board, 82 x 70 cm

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“The Golden Evening” is a vision that transports viewers to 2050, where Earth has undergone a significant transformation. This artwork depicts a restored and vibrant planet, awash with golden sunlight refracting light and a tonality of colors from different angles and perspectives. The warmth of the sun’s glow transforms the belief that humans can make life better for all living organisms when the “will of man” is alive and well. This can be achieved for the betterment of each life sharing the planet. The native trees and those that inhabited the land for hundreds and thousands of years are more abundant. The Sidr, the Date Palms, the Ghaf, the Samar, the Mulberry, and the Pomegranate trees represented are thriving in the soil that has been restored and is supremely rich with billions of healthy microorganisms. One of the imperative insects that were endangered and are now thriving in 2050 is the Wild honeybee, Apis Florea, also called the Arabian honeybee, and the Asian dwarf honeybee. They live in an age that reflects the powerful testament to the resilience of nature and the potential for humanity to reverse the devastating effects of environmental degradation. 

An essential element in addition to the indigenous, thriving trees and plant life in my work is to draw attention to a respective amount of animals that are endangered and at a very high risk of extinction living in the United Arab Emirates, the Arabian Peninsula, and the Gulf region. I envision that in twenty-seven years, the Saker Falcon, the Green Turtles, the Arabian Tahr, the Great Knot, the Arabian Oryx, and the Steppe Eagle will have increased in population and be thriving, as well as all the other land-dwelling and seafaring animals and organisms flourishing in a safe and clean environment. They now have the freedom to move freely on the vast, plentiful terrains of the great continents of the world, grazing from fresh shrubs, berries, fruit, and leaves without worry. The animals can live without the fear and threat of being killed by electrocution by flying into electrical wires, dying from drinking poisoned water from petrochemical runoffs, pesticides, and many others, and losing fresh water and habitat.

I utilized multiple mediums when creating my “Golden Evening” artwork, from photography to my observational drawings of the trees, insects, and various mammals and reptiles. Using environmentally safe water-based mediums is imperative when considering the effects on the environment as well. I engage in hand painting and hand silkscreen printing to enrich and enhance the layers of lives of animals and insects depicted who are blessed to live in a world with cleaner air and water. 

"The Golden Evening” portrays a world where the scars of past environmental devastation have been healed. A lush landscape with a vibrant variety of tree species inhabiting the country I call home, the United Arab Emirates, stretching out as far as the eye can see. The older-growth trees, with their branches reaching towards the sky, provide shelter and shade for a myriad of organic organisms, some seen and some unseen, under the soil and above, and protect the rare animals that were close to extinction only decades earlier. The once-barren lands have been transformed into fertile grounds, blooming with colorful flora and thriving ecosystems.

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Solimar Miller​

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Solimar Miller (b.1969, Puerto Rico) is a multidisciplinary artist and designer based in Dubai. Her reverence and concern for the environment have led to works influenced by ecological elements that are changing in the current landscape. An integral part of her practice is documenting the unique characteristics of indigenous and naturally thriving tree species through photography, observational drawings, and paintings. Solimar implements a series of processes in producing hand-silkscreened artworks on a variety of materials based on the environment of the United Arab Emirates, where she has been living for many years.

Solimar debuted her first solo exhibition at XVA Art Gallery, Al Fahidi Historic District, in the winter- spring of 2023 and has a collection of artwork exhibited in the Garden Room at The Capital Club in DIFC in the autumn of 2023. Her recent exhibitions include the Tashkeel Gallery at Alserkal Avenue, Sikka Art and Design Festival, Festival of Arts Gallery, as well as the Middle East Institute Art Gallery, Washington D.C. Her artwork has been featured in the Washington Post, Canvas Magazine, Saviour Faire Magazine, Art Daily, the National, and Arab News. She wrote the article ‘Desert Flora’ for Canvas Magazine in the Summer of 2022. Solimar received a ‘Special Mention’ from the guest curator, Dina Brodsky, for Create Magazine and was a finalist in the summer of 2022. She has been commissioned by and has artwork displayed at the Four Seasons Resort and Hotel, La Gente at Eden House, and at a luxury building lobby, Residence 22, in Dubai.

Solimar received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Textile Surface Design from the Fashion Institute of Technology and studied Illustration at Parsons School of Design in New York. She has been nominated for The Salama bint Hamdan Emerging Artists Fellowship 2022 and 2023. Solimar is a member of the Tashkeel Studio in Dubai and the Arbor Day Foundation.