NABILA AVIANI

BIOGRAPHY

Nabila Aviani (b.2000) is an Indonesian-born figurative painter, raised in the United Arab Emirates and based in The Hague, Netherlands. 

Nabila is an active member of the artist collective “The Raw Pulse Collective” based in The Hague. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts, specialising in painting, from the Royal Academy of Art (KABK) in The Hague. In her artistic practice, she explores themes of identity, vulnerability and mental health. Through these themes, she visualises the fluctuating states of her lived experiences with bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder. 

The boldness presented in her paintings is a reflection of her struggles with mental health, she dives into self-love, identity crises and psychological instability. She uses the medium of painting as a visual diary, she does not shy from capturing her raw emotions that range from intense highs of manic episodes to the painful lows of depressive episodes or the emotional turbulence from borderline personality disorder. By presenting these issues to the surface, she rejects and challenges the view that complexities and contradictions should define us. Through her fragmented forms and expressive brushstrokes, she visualises the chaotic interaction between emotional extremes, offering a raw and intimate portrayal of the human condition. In her art, she aims to examine how personal narratives intertwine with broader sociocultural discourses on ableism, mental health and self-representation.

Therefore, despite the darkness of her paintings, they are a celebration of resilience, imperfection and the power of fearless self-expression. Through her art, she challenges societal taboos, destigmatises mental health conditions and invites viewers to confront vulnerability and embrace the beauty found in the raw, fragmented self.

ARTIST STATEMENT

I paint the raw emotions you are too scared to feel.

My paintings are a reflection of my experiences with bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder. However, I believe I am more than the labels these mental disorders might give me.

My artistic practice explores identity, mental health and the complexities of self-perception. Born in Indonesia, raised in the United Arab Emirates and now based in the Netherlands, both my experiences of being a third-culture kid and my mental health conditions, shaped my view of identity as fluid and ever-evolving. Through my lens, I use painting as a ‘visual diary’ to capture my raw emotions, whether it is from the intense manic episodes to the painful depression or the emotional turbulence from borderline personality disorder. By diving into topics such as identity (crisis), (self) love and (self) destruction, my goal is to reject and challenge the view that contradictions and complexities should define us. 

My paintings' resilience, feminine rage and yearning for connection celebrate humanity’s fragility and strength. For certain, my paintings participate in the discourse on destigmatising mental health to provide a safe space for vulnerability whilst confronting the uncomfortable. 

There are hints of myself in my paintings but also hints of everyone in them.