About Batuta Gallery
Batuta Gallery is a family business, owned and operated by Peter and Hala Hansen and was based at Picnic Bay, on beautiful Magnetic Island, for six years. The Gallery first opened in March 2018 and is now online only.
Batuta Gallery is a result of Peter and Hala’s interest in the art and artefacts of tribal and nomadic cultures – many of which no longer exist today. The material artifacts that these lost cultures have left behind are, in many cases, our only source of knowledge of them. Not only are many of these artifacts artistically beautiful and interesting, they are also rare and therefore sought after by collectors all over the world.
At Batuta Gallery you will find many objects to engage your interest and with which to decorate yourself and your home including kilims, carpets and woven art from Anatolia (Turkey) and Persia (Iran), wood carvings such as masks and bowls from Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, Asian bronzes, Indian, Japanese and Chinese antiques, Roman, medieval and Navajo jewellery, and ancient Greek and Roman coins.
About the name of the Gallery
The name for the Gallery is taken from Ibn Battutah, who was a 14th century Arabic explorer from Morocco. He traveled throughout the Middle East, Central Asia, India and China and recorded his travels and the people and cultures he encountered.
About Peter and Hala
Peter grew up on Magnetic Island. He left to go to University and then work as a lawyer in Sydney. He spent 16 years living and working in the Middle East and Japan. Hala was born and grew up in one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world, Damascus in Syria. She also studied law.
