4 AM

For a time, I made the desert my bed. I would sleep directly on the dunes, lying carefully on my back or resting on my arm so that by morning, sand wouldn’t fill my ears. The dunes became both pillow and blanket, holding me in their warmth.

Every morning, without fail, I woke around 4:30. Sometimes I couldn’t sleep at all - the sky was too alive. Stars scattered across the vast black canvas, and shooting stars seemed to fall just for me. In those hours, I felt small but never alone.

From somewhere far off, a soft call to prayer would rise in the stillness. It came not from a grand mosque, but from what must have been a small kiosk hidden in the endless sands. No people, no buildings, only the desert… and the quiet company of small, white lizards that moved gracefully in the night.

For me, 4 AM came to represent something sacred: a feeling of warmth, of surrender, of not caring about being covered in sand. Each morning, I let myself roll down the dune, a ritual that felt like meditation - connecting me back to my body, my breath, and to the Spirit of the desert itself.

Those moments taught me presence. They reminded me of the strength of stillness, the softness of surrender, and the beauty of simply being. And it is from those nights and mornings that this paintings was born.

MEDIUM: 24K Gold and acrylic on plywood

SIZE: 143 x 99 cm

YEAR: 2023