Virginia artist explores search for disappeared husband in documentary premiering in Richmond

With each brushstroke, Richmond-based artist Baha Omary Kikhia's bold colors tell individual stories of strength. It's a reflection of a life defined by resilience, loss, and an unrelenting search for truth.

"So I want to unveil these women," Kikhia said. "That you don't know what's under this smart beautiful educated woman. They are the queen of the house, even though the man is in control."

Kikhia's canvases feature women from the Middle East, a region the Syrian-born artist knows intimately.

She said her subjects project resilience in the face of adversity. It is something she knows all too well.

"This is just a message that women are strong at the same time beautiful and feminine," Kikhia said. "It is, I want to show the woman under this cover."

Her personal story is one of profound loss.

Kikhia's husband, Mansour, was a highly respected former Libyan Ambassador to the United Nations and human rights activist.

"He is very sure of himself. The way he sits. The way he talks. And very polite. And smart," Kikhia said. "He believed in human rights for everyone. Everyone."

Over time, Mansour grew leery of Libya's brutal dictator Muammar Qaddafi.

"Whoever says no to him is his enemy," Kikhia said. "He was very jealous."

Kikhia's concern for her husband's safety proved valid.

On Dec. 10, 1993, while attending a conference in Cairo, Egypt, Mansour disappeared without a trace.

"I was supposed to go to the airport to pick him up. He never came," Kikhia said. "He said 'bye-bye' and he never came back."

Days turned into weeks. Weeks into months.

"There is no evidence at all," Kikhia said. "Disappointed and sad. But you have to believe."

In 1994, Kikhia was invited to Tripoli to meet one-on-one with the man she suspected of orchestrating her husband's kidnapping — Qaddafi himself.

"He immediately said 'Where is Mansour?'" Kikhia said. "In my heart, I was like cursing him in my heart."

Kikhia said she was not intimidated by the man who ruled the country with an iron fist.

"Even if I say my opinion. Even if I am talking to a dictator. So what," Kikhia said.

The hour-long meeting did not lead to her husband's whereabouts.

"He was not only lying to me, but millions of people from his country," Kikhia said.

Kikhia raised their four children alone while waiting to learn what happened to Mansour.

In 2011, during the Arab Spring, Qaddafi was overthrown and executed. The uprising also led Kikhia to long-overdue answers.

Her husband's body was discovered in a morgue — 18 years after he went missing.

Kikhia's journey to find the truth about Mansour is the subject of a new film by their daughter JiJi.

"My Father and Qaddafi" details Kikhia's determination and will screen at the Richmond International Film Festival.

Natalya Al-Omary, Kikhia's granddaughter, helped produce the documentary with her aunt JiJi. She said she found inspiration in her grandmother's courage and in the grandfather she never knew.

"As difficult as it was, we always try to remember the good," Al-Omary said. "It was healing, specially, that first screening and the standing ovation that we got, and seeing my grandmother, there were tears to say the least. Felt like my grandfather was in the room with us."

Thirty-three years after her husband's kidnapping, Kikhia still draws strength from her long ordeal.

"Well, I have experience from this journey. And I would like to take the positive from the experience," Kikhia said.

"That he gave his life for human rights," she said. "I have to finish his journey as much as I can. By being wise if I can."

"My Father and Qaddafi" premieres at the Richmond International Film Festival on Saturday, Sept. 26 at 5:45 p.m. at Bowtie Movieland.