The Lebanese artist's new exhibition features a series of pastels painted in 1971 and rediscovered last summer with Christine Tohmé, the director and founder of the Ashkal Alwan association for the visual arts. They tell the story of pre-war Lebanon, his encounter with a hippy guitarist, and the freedom of his native country.
"These drawings contain and embody that era. They embody a lost period, unfulfilled desires of course, but above all the freedom that reigned then, and the conviction that anything was possible. In particular, we artists of that period, such as Fadi Barrage, Aref el-Rayess and Paul Guiragossian, aspired to create a new civilisation". - Simone Fattal for OLJ.
Photo: Simone Fattal, "Jack", as part of Homeworks/Ashkal Alwan. Photo Christopher Baaklini.