Jabalna (Our Mountain), 2025
Acrylic on Wood Board, 30cm x 40cm
Found objects & Lebanese 'Matte' tea set, herbs (dried Zaatar), dried roses & Lebanese olive wood slices.
Music: Audio playing of “Jabalna” by Wadih El Safi, Translation by Eyad Molaeb. Duration 3 Minutes, 37 Seconds.
Documentation by Kim Feng Photography
Beginning my Honours year, this is a new series of painted landscapes based on photos my parents have taken in Lebanon. Studying different Lebanese artists and the way they paint landscapes of the country, the colours change & forms abstract based on their views.
Here, I am exploring the concept of second-hand memory, a juxtaposition of distance, and closeness. Of reestablishing memory and connection through the eyes of someone else. How if I paint these places how my parents see them, maybe my memory will reform to see these places the way they do.
The installation is purposefully reconstructing domestic objects that are meant to feel familiar, while still having a distance that keeps them from feeling like home. The audio features my dad, Eyad Molaeb, translating a song from Lebanese to English, and comments on the multiple elements of translation happening: translation of language in the audio, translating of the photograph through the painting, and translating the memories associated with the land & place.
Acrylic on Wood Board, 30cm x 40cm
Found objects & Lebanese 'Matte' tea set, herbs (dried Zaatar), dried roses & Lebanese olive wood slices.
Music: Audio playing of “Jabalna” by Wadih El Safi, Translation by Eyad Molaeb. Duration 3 Minutes, 37 Seconds.
Documentation by Kim Feng Photography
Beginning my Honours year, this is a new series of painted landscapes based on photos my parents have taken in Lebanon. Studying different Lebanese artists and the way they paint landscapes of the country, the colours change & forms abstract based on their views.
Here, I am exploring the concept of second-hand memory, a juxtaposition of distance, and closeness. Of reestablishing memory and connection through the eyes of someone else. How if I paint these places how my parents see them, maybe my memory will reform to see these places the way they do.
The installation is purposefully reconstructing domestic objects that are meant to feel familiar, while still having a distance that keeps them from feeling like home. The audio features my dad, Eyad Molaeb, translating a song from Lebanese to English, and comments on the multiple elements of translation happening: translation of language in the audio, translating of the photograph through the painting, and translating the memories associated with the land & place.