Guests at Finolhu Maldives will be able to pick up a brush alongside a working contemporary artist this November, when Yakov Khomich takes up residence on the island from 6 to 12 November 2026.
Khomich, a painter who splits his time between France and Russia, doesn't work in one fixed style. His practice starts from an image, memory or emotion and develops instinctively on canvas, sitting somewhere between the real and the imagined. He grew up in a family of artists, trained at Moscow's Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography (VGIK), graduating in 2023 with a specialisation in painting and film art, and has shown internationally at fairs including Cosmoscow and Blazar, plus exhibitions with ART&BRUT Gallery in Moscow and Sur Play at Museum NOU in Barcelona. His paintings sit in private collections across the US, Europe, China and Russia.
The Finolhu programme is built around participation rather than observation. It opens with a Meet & Greet during the resort's signature White Party on 6 November, followed by a free introductory art class on 7 November and group masterclasses on 8 and 10 November. Guests who want something quieter can book private sessions with Khomich between 7 and 12 November. Nobody is asked to copy a reference image or follow a rigid technique — the idea is to experiment and let the work evolve, which is how Khomich himself paints.
The residency runs through Finolhu's Art Lab, a dedicated creative space that also hosts painting, pottery, fabric dyeing and resin art workshops. It follows hot on the heels of British designer Matthew Williamson's October residency, which brought his maximalist colour-and-pattern sensibility to the island. Finolhu sits in the Baa Atoll Biosphere Reserve, a UNESCO-designated area known for its marine life — a setting that makes an outdoor painting session a fairly memorable proposition.
For travellers, this is a good example of how Maldivian resorts are broadening what a beach holiday can include. If the idea of a week of nothing but sunbathing makes you twitchy, a structured creative programme with a practicing artist offers something to do between swims — and no prior art experience is needed. Sessions are included or bookable depending on format, so it's worth checking the schedule with the resort before you travel. Anyone planning a November trip to the Maldives who wants a holiday with a creative angle could do worse than timing it around these dates.
