Samia Halaby and Andrée Sfeir-Semler at the opening of the exhibition “Abstract In Motion.” (Credit: Sfeir-Semler Gallery)
Coming straight from the United States — where she has lived and worked for over seven decades — to attend the opening of the tribute exhibition organized by Andrée Sfeir-Semler as part of celebrations for the fortieth anniversary of her eponymous gallery*, Samia Halaby remains perfectly unruffled, even as she is besieged by the admiration of her Lebanese fans in Beirut.With a posture as straight as an "I", and a gaze of formidable acuity, though shrouded in a veil of disenchantment, the doyenne of Palestinian artists is well on her way to becoming an icon, if the fervor of the crowd that follows her — from the new downtown Beirut gallery space, where some of her paintings and digital works** are hung, to the sprawling Karantina space (Tannous building for metals), where that very evening she presented a live performance of her...
Coming straight from the United States — where she has lived and worked for over seven decades — to attend the opening of the tribute exhibition organized by Andrée Sfeir-Semler as part of celebrations for the fortieth anniversary of her eponymous gallery*, Samia Halaby remains perfectly unruffled, even as she is besieged by the admiration of her Lebanese fans in Beirut.With a posture as straight as an "I", and a gaze of formidable acuity, though shrouded in a veil of disenchantment, the doyenne of Palestinian artists is well on her way to becoming an icon, if the fervor of the crowd that follows her — from the new downtown Beirut gallery space, where some of her paintings and digital works** are hung, to the sprawling Karantina space (Tannous building for metals), where that very evening she presented a live performance...
