The collective exhibition I don’t want to talk but… was held at Zico House on August 20, 2021. The artists who exhibited their work were : Yara Asmar, Nader Bahsoun, Thalia Bassim, Stephanie Corab, Serge Ghazale, Marc Ghazali, Carla Habib, Aya Kazoun, Claudia Khachan and Olivier Nemnom, Shirine Sbaiti, Celine Seta Rahme, Sako Sislian, Marwan Tohme and Melissa Ghazale.
Curated by Melissa Ghazale, the show highlights a selection of artists as well as non-artists who produced works under the theme of teenage hood and the lingering crisis from this era. The exhibition is multidisciplinary and includes installation, perfume, performance, video-art, sound installation, painting and sculpting.
Yara Asmar is a Beirut-based musician, visual artist and puppet-maker. Yara incorporates a wide range of eclectic instrumentation into her performances, including the piano, accordion, metallophone and theremin. She is currently planning to begin studying for her Masters, which is focused on the neuroscience of music.
Nader Bahsoun is a Lebanese visual and performance artist based in Beirut. He holds a BA in Film Studies from the LU Faculty of Arts and Architecture and is a self-taught illustrator. Bahsoun’s artistic practice explores civil society and re-examines history, by keeping the human figure as his central subject. He is looking to expand his artistic practice to include archives, experiment with photographic mediums and dive into the printing process.
Thalia Bassim was born in Lebanon. She is a visual artist based in New York and currently doing research in Beirut. Her work has been an exploration of visualizing sound into different mediums, while trying to understand the different ways a body/subject occupies a space. From making videos, to archiving material, taking photographs, writing articles, and making sculptures, Thalia is slowly gathering information to create a wider immersive experience.
Stéphanie Korab is an interdisciplinary artist, designer and interior architect based in Beirut. Her work explores how the sounds of the built environment affect people’s perception of space and their relationship to the activities occurring within cities, through the use of field recordings. She works in various mediums, including photography, phonography, video, design, architecture, electronics, drawings.
Serge Ghazale est un artiste libanais post-punk, performer, multi-instrumentiste, chanteur et artiste en arts visuels. Le groupe qu’il forme avec Valentin Savioz veut installer une rage primale, provocatrice, sans concession dans leur musique.
Carla Habib is a Lebanese comic artist. She got her master’s degree in illustration and comics and is currently expanding her practice in visual arts. She has exhibited in the Beirut Art Center.
Aya Kazoun is a graduate of the Fine Arts School of Beirut , ALBA. She helped to create the Nation Station association in an old abandoned gas station, following the port explosion in 2020 to support the residents of the neighborhood.
Claudia Khachan is a graduate of the Fine Arts School of Beirut , ALBA, in the fashion section. She has created SaintBalech, which is a collective fashion brand that creates affordable items for everyone.
Olivier Nemnom is a photographer and videographer who has collaborated with Claudia Khachan to photograph her creations.
Shirine Sbaiti is a former student of the Fine Arts Academy of Beirut. She is also the co-founder of 2d3d.space with Ali el Jaam, a company specialized in restaurant design. This project helped her to understand their love for restaurant design.
Celine Seta Rahme is an artist as well as a published art writer. She has contributed to writing articles in the Gallery Magazine, specializing in Fine Arts in Lebanon. As a multidisciplinary artist, she trained in traditional fields (drawing, painting, sculpture, and digital illustration), and contemporary mediums (installation, video art, and performance). She has exhibited with multiple collective shows in Lebanon.
Sako Sislian got his Visual Arts Master at the Fine Arts School of Beirut.
Marwan Tohme is a Lebanese guitarist and singer. He has created the folk rock band Postcards with Julia Sabra, Rany Bechara and Pascal Semerdjian.
Melissa Ghazale is a visual Lebanese artist based in Beirut. Her practice stretches from video art, installations to curatorial work. Melissa obtained her M.A. in Visual Arts at The Fine Arts School of Beirut, ALBA in 2017, and a post-grad certificate in Arts Management at ESA in 2019.