About the work

In this work I tried to draw myself and defy the notion of self-portrait: am I the other? Should I hide? Should I reveal myself? Should I be myself? I borrowed a sentence from Mahmoud Darwish the Palestinian poet – a woman I filmed recently had tattooed his saying on her arm: “On this earth there is what deserves to live”. And so I wrote on my drawing: “On this body, there must be what deserves to survive or to live… maybe, maybe”.

When faced with the self-portrait, a lot of existential ideas occur to me: why do I live? Do I have to reveal my gender details? Is this really me, or is this someone else? A stereotype of a woman?  Etc… Etc…

Date and country of birth

1978, LB>

About the artist

Mounira Al Solh (b. 1978, Beirut) lives and works in Beirut and Amsterdam. Graduated from Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam (2006); and Lebanese University, Beirut (2001). Select solo exhibitions include Mounira Al Solh: I strongly believe in our right to be frivolous, Art Institute Chicago, Chicago (2018); Artist’s Rooms, Jameel Arts Center, Dubai (2018); I strongly believe in our right to be frivolous, Mathaf, Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha (2018); Documenta 14, Kassel and Athens (2017); I Want to Be a Party, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg (2016); I Strongly Believe in Our Right to Be Frivolous, Alt Art Space, Istanbul (2016); All Mother Tongues Are Difficult, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Beirut (2014); NOW EAT MY SCRIPT, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2014); and suddenly there were women, (Performance), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Hague and Center for Contemporary Art, Glasgow (2013). Select group exhibitions include Graphic Witness, Drawing Room, London (2017); The Measure of our Traveling Feet, Marres, Maastricht (2016); Everything in Nature has a lyrical essence, a tragic fate, a comic existence, Kunsthalle Exnergasse, Vienna (2016); Es war einmal ein Land, Heidelberger Kunstverein, Heidelberg (2016); Wir Flüchtlinge – Von dem Recht, Rechte zu haben, Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe (2016); and Venice Biennial, Venice (2015).