"Timeless," a glazed ceramic sculpture by Mounira al-Solh. Courtesy of the Sfeir-Semler Gallery in Beirut and Hamburg.
Three painters and a photographer are taking the art scene by storm this spring in Beirut. Between audacity, delicacy, power, and storytelling, they rise to the challenge of an art form, feminist or not, that captivates, intrigues, sometimes disturbs, yet always expresses itself. L'Orient-Le Jour introduces you to them.Mounira al-Solh and her mythologies of exileFrom the street, the tone is already set. A ceramic sculpture in the window shows a nude woman stepping triumphantly from a shell, the word “time” inscribed in Arabic beside her, rolling a suitcase behind her. The impression is one of striking power.“It echoes the statue of The Lebanese Emigrant just steps away by the Beirut port,” says Mounira al-Solh, her eyes gleaming. “I wanted to give my own feminine version, being an emigrant myself.”As you might expect, the Lebanese...
Three painters and a photographer are taking the art scene by storm this spring in Beirut. Between audacity, delicacy, power, and storytelling, they rise to the challenge of an art form, feminist or not, that captivates, intrigues, sometimes disturbs, yet always expresses itself. L'Orient-Le Jour introduces you to them.Mounira al-Solh and her mythologies of exileFrom the street, the tone is already set. A ceramic sculpture in the window shows a nude woman stepping triumphantly from a shell, the word “time” inscribed in Arabic beside her, rolling a suitcase behind her. The impression is one of striking power.“It echoes the statue of The Lebanese Emigrant just steps away by the Beirut port,” says Mounira al-Solh, her eyes gleaming. “I wanted to give my own feminine version, being an emigrant myself.”As you might expect, the...