Blessed with passion: Micheline Nohra proves there’s no age limit on dreams

“Having a passion is a blessing, not afforded to everyone. It’s a blessing from God”, affirms Lebanese artist Micheline Nohra. She firmly believes that if she doesn’t put her heart into it, the spectator won’t like it, looking upon it from the heart as well, as if two hearts were communicating in the subtle and soulful language of art.

Her paintings are based on life. When she painted a heavy woman with her tongue out with “Et alors?”, “so what?” written, it was sarcasm, pure and simple. In all her social gatherings with friends, lunches and dinners, all women talk about is dieting and weight. It displeases her to no end that people are identified by their weight. “I learnt that we shouldn’t tell anyone they’ve lost or gained weight, nor they’ve grown older, it’s of poor taste”, says Micheline.

A piece of art she brought to life went viral. During the 2024 war, they were bombarding the airport daily and the Middle East Airlines plane didn’t cease its travels over the flames. She made many sketches at the time including this one, sketching first then painting. “The tongue out is not a joke for me; it has a meaning”. The MEA plane just doesn’t care; the airline was the only one that dared to fly in such risky circumstances. “I felt this painting had such a powerful message that it shouldn’t be put away in someone’s home”, explains Micheline. “That’s why I offered it to the Middle East Airlines, and they gifted me a small airplane in return”.

Her heart belongs to art

At this moment in time, Micheline has come to a realization. “The most important thing in my life, second only to my family, is my art. I can paint 24/7, I’m not even exaggerating”. She feels she got entangled in art when she went to university at forty-two. Ever since she was a little girl, she drew. She lived in Canada with her husband and upon her return to Lebanon, she created the paintings in her new home.

She drew by instinct, guessing and combining colors visually to create abstract work. “If you don’t know how to draw, you paint abstract”, says Micheline. One day, an acquaintance paid them a visit and was struck by her paintings. He encouraged her to enroll in the Lebanese University as he worked there. Micheline complied.

“Daily I told my husband I don’t want to go back there. It wasn’t easy with the age difference. Plus, it was grueling hours, from morning till night, marked by an unusual dynamic. I ended up staying four and a half years”, says Micheline.

Back then, an Ethiopian plane going to Africa crashed. An eighteen-year-old fellow student said their neighbor died in the crash, but that he was old at forty. Micheline intervened laughing to say she’s forty-two. In the end, she became part of the gang, and fit right in.

A style to call her own

She didn’t know how to draw a man before entering university. Her style is a combination of gift and education, and it came with experience. She paints messily, creating chaos around her. Some artists are tidy, not her.

As a matter of fact, she can draw a human as he is. Her artistic characters, however, are creative, they don’t have eyes. The more work was done, the more her style was refined. When she finished her studies, she had two private ateliers in France.

“I breathe through art. I can’t live without it, I would sink into depression, refrain from seeing friends”, confesses Micheline. Craziness and freedom come from work, and the composition remains. She reads a painting the way a layman reads it, she either loves it or she doesn’t. The only difference is if there’s a slip-up in composition she can spot it. Every day she comes into the atelier and draws whatever pleases her. Drawing is her happiness. “It’s not to bring complications into my life, I want to sell this or I want to exhibit that”.

Whatever she draws, whether it’s a house or a person or a pot, they all have her signature style. Just like a dish, it has her “Nafas”, as her mom says, her special touch. Work, persistence, and self-criticism became the secrets to her success.

A kaleidoscope of inspiration

As an artist living in Lebanon, its beauty, instability, and contradictions have affected her visual language. In Achrafieh, to get to an upper street, she walks in zigzags and keeps her eye on the sidewalk due to dog feces sullying the roads. This drove her to draw an elegant woman holding a dog, with a sign next to her banning dog feces. The twist is that her puppy is pooping flowers.

In Lebanon, you stumble upon inspiration at every corner. She doesn’t watch the news, still she could draw daily about the quirks that distinguish Lebanon from all other countries. If something triggering occurs, she feels compelled to put it on canvas.

Her only hope is to put a smile on people’s faces. She wants those who purchase her works of art to look at them and feel happy. “If I were to draw someone on his deathbed, I would draw him in a cute, colorful and funny way”.