Omeima Mudawi-Rowlings was born in Khartoum, Sudan in 1969. Having lost her hearing due to meningitis, her family relocated to England in 1981, as there were no schools for the deaf in Khartoum. She earned a BA in Textile Design at the Surrey Institute for Art and Design (SIAD) and in 2003 she founded Resonant Arts, an arts-led initiative focused on deaf women, facilitating integration and the exchange of artistic practices between hearing and deaf female artists. Her textiles feature organic and architectural designs combining influences from both Afro-Arab and Western traditions.
Textile artist, designer and independent curator Omeima Mudawi-Rowlings (née Omeima Osman Khalid Mudawi) was born in Khartoum, Sudan in 1969. She lost her hearing at the age of four due to meningitis and, when she was 12, her brother became deaf too. In order to give them better opportunities, the family decided to leave Sudan, as there were no schools for the deaf in Khartoum and teachers did not understand the siblings’ disability.
Mudawi-Rowlings earned a BA in Textile Design at the Surrey Institute for Art and Design (now known as the University for the Creative Arts) in Farnham. She recalled that, before the Disability Discrimination Act of 1995, she was able to receive communication support only for the main lectures and not for other activities (UCA). Despite her achievements, after graduating she ‘came up against a wall’ and faced challenges when seeking grants from organisations like the Crafts Council (Deaf Unity). She also struggled securing studio space at London's Cockpit Arts. She began her career as an ethnic minority worker and development officer at Friends for Young Deaf People. Over the years, she took on various roles supporting vulnerable deaf individuals in cultural and social welfare settings. Additionally, as a freelance creative consultant, she worked towards making mainstream arts more accessible for deaf participants. Pursuing further education, Mudawi-Rowlings gained an MA in Arts Policy and Management at Birkbeck, University of London. In 2003 she founded Resonant Arts, an arts-led initiative focused on deaf women, facilitating integration and the exchange of artistic practices between hearing and deaf female artists. With Resonant Arts, she worked in partnership with Shape Arts and SPACE, before eventually securing studio space at Cockpit Arts.
Mudawi-Rowlings' artistic practice encompasses silkscreen prints, lampshades, cushion covers, scarves, cards, and bookmarks. These pieces feature organic and architectural designs combining influences from both Eastern and Western traditions. She employs a vibrant palette of deep, intense colors – including ‘the warm violets and earthy browns’ reminiscent of her Sudanese childhood, alongside ‘the cooler shades of England’s south coast’ (Iliffe 2018). She has mastered devoré – a technique that creates semi-transparent patterns on densely woven fabric – which allows her to achieve contrasting elements and layers of depth within her textile designs. She also uses traditional screenprinting and dyeing techniques on silk, tissue, velvet, and paper, crafting highly textured pieces offering a tactile experience. Informed by her rich Afro-Arab heritage, Mudawi-Rowlings' draws inspiration from Arabic calligraphy, mythology, music, and drama. As she navigates the migratory path, her work resonates with the experiences of other migrants, transcending cultural, physical, and artistic boundaries. Her art is a ‘calm distilling of recollection of what was, as memory, confronted with reality, is seen to shift and betray. There is loss – the past, homeland, facets of identity – but there is also an almost spiritual reassurance of the presence of the universal and eternal’ (Women’s Literacy Sudan). Her work also possesses a talismanic quality, as Mudawi-Rowlings incorporates objects that symbolise her diaspora experience, including brass trinkets and shells from Sudan. Through these elements, she weaves together narratives that speak to her personal story and the broader themes of migration and belonging. In 2015 Mudawi-Rowlings held the solo exhibition Endless Flow at the Arab-British Centre, London.
In 2016, working in partnership with artist Miranda Ellis, she was awarded a grant by Arts Council England. Fusing textiles and glass making techniques in an innovative endeavour, the Eye2eye project culminated in an installation of new work at ONCA gallery in Brighton in 2017, exploring the complex themes of deafness, deaf and hearing spaces, discrimination, and ways of seeing and being. In 2018, Mudawi-Rowlings collaborated with Artichoke in Brighton to create a banner representing the city's ethos and promoting equality in honour of the centenary of women's suffrage in the UK. She received the runner-up prize for the Arab British Centre Award for Culture in 2019 and was awarded an MBE for her contributions to disability representation in the arts in 2022. In the same year, her textile work was included in the Crafts Council's exhibition We Gather, featuring the works of five artists with Black and Asian heritage, each contributing to the cultural significance of craft in the UK. In 2019-20, Omeina was appointed a Clore Leadership Fellow. Omeima Arts, her business venture, merges textile craftsmanship and art projects with creative consultancy services. Through it, she engages in collaborations with deaf and disabled artists, provides advocacy support, and conducts deaf awareness training initiatives. Mudawi-Rowlings’ work is not currently represented in UK public collections.