On Becoming, Mixed-media Installation, 2023.
The project reflects on the question of becoming, or rather the transformation of our personal histories and identities, especially when affected by displacement due to war, conflict and economic situations. All the elements of the work – drawings, objects, articles and videos – tell the story of the artist’s evolving self-identification as a woman, an artist, an immigrant, a researcher, a feminist and a lesbian. They reflect her childhood stories and emotional bonds with her loved ones, as well as her anxieties about living in the turbulent context of Lebanon and as an immigrant in France. All the artefacts are installed in a wooden structure that resembles a cabinet of curiosities, with display cases and drawers that the viewer can open to examine their contents. Like living archives, these seemingly unrelated fragments of personal memory create a complex narrative in which past and present intertwine, at moments echoing the viewer’s personal history. Two or three times during the exhibition, the artist activates her installation by telling the story of each object in order to open up a discussion on a theme built around the object he or she has chosen. Viewers personal stories can be recorded and may be incorporated into future iterations of the artist’s work.
Projects linked: A Night in Fez, The Welcome Song, The Sleepers, Avis, The Perfect Arab Artist, Mother’s Love, Father’s Love, This Smell of Her, Objects of Love, One and three Fatmeh, The little Saleswoman, On War Migration and Identity, Another leap into the void, When Time Stops, Beirut 4th of August.