Building Bridges with Ebtehal Badawi | The James Protin Podcast

Ebtehal Badawi, an esteemed expressionist artist and dedicated culture explorer, embodies the transformative power of art. Her fervent belief in art as a potent healer and a bridge-builder has been a source of inspiration for many. Through the Pittsburgh Builds Bridges project, she has crafted art installations that not only unite the community but also promote love and acceptance.

Ebtehal's remarkable journey and her capacity to effect change are truly moving, ready to inspire anyone who encounters her story.

Ebtehal Badawi was born in Saudi, Arabia. Ebtehal now resides in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Since she was in 5th grade, she always knew that she wanted to be an artist. However, she took a different path and got a bachelor’s degree in biology from King Abdul-Aziz University.

Following that, she earned a master’s degree in Industrial Hygiene from West Virginia University in Morgantown, WV. Her career path also included working as a teacher assistant. Still, she always felt that something was missing. After taking an interest in art therapy, she took the required classes in Art and Psychology to pursue that specialty and it is still ongoing.

During her journey, she joined the Malian Art Institute and learned different techniques in painting. The first thing everyone notices about her art is that it is colorful and uplifting. Her art has a big influence on people. She designed a poster for anti-bullying and anti-racism which was posted in different schools in the Pittsburgh area. This was aimed to help kids understand the power of unity. She was also a part of different art shows in Pittsburgh.

Ebtehal is not just an artist but is a writer and a photographer as well. She enjoys going and spending time in nature and connecting with Mother Earth and writing about her experience. Her goal as an artist is to create art that would uplift peoples’ souls and connect with more artists to share the beauty and the magic of art.

Ebtehal Badawi is also a 2022 Pittsburgh TEDx speaker.

Pittsburgh Builds Bridges is a community outreach movement that encourages diversity, inclusion, and connection within the community using simple actions, the stroke of a paint brush, dialogue, and awareness.

Ebtehal created this movement because her son endured bullying as a young child. Unfortunately, according to the National Center for Education Statistics and Bureau of Justice, 20 percent of students ages 12-18 experience bullying. Due to this, she began teaching acceptance and love to youth and adults through painting across Pittsburgh.

Along with bullying, Ebtehal quickly realized that many children and adults felt like outsiders in their community because of their race, gender, language barrier, beliefs, etc. She decided that Pittsburgh Builds Bridges was not just a social movement for anti-bullying but was also about inclusion, diversity, acceptance, and cultivating community.

Pittsburgh Builds Bridges has curated events that have brought together over 4,000 children and adults to create murals that embody unison and harmony and discuss how to build bridges in their communities. These murals, dialogue, and awareness have taken place in all levels of grade schools from elementary to high schools, public and private.