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Youssef Ghazzawi’s exhibition is on display at the Escape Gallery until September 23, 2023, featuring over 35 canvases awash in vibrant and cheerful colors, as well as an installation that speaks of memory and childhood—elements that leave their indelible marks and engrave memories that accompany us throughout our lives. The exhibition also serves as a call to the Lebanese, particularly the youth, not to abandon their homeland and villages.
“Every summer of my childhood was spent in my village of Khiam, surrounded by beautiful nature, and my refuge was an Arzal (hut) where I would curl up and dream,” he recounts. Nature has always been a significant influence on the artist. “I love interpreting it in various ways and expressing my emotions through it,” he says. “I love my country, its colors, its radiant weather.” Ghazzawi left France, where he had lived for many years, garnered several prestigious awards and participated in multiple exhibitions, to return to Lebanon a few years ago. He served as the Head of the Faculty of Fine Arts at the Lebanese University from 1996 to 2021 and is now presenting his 14th exhibition in Lebanon.
The theme chosen for his exhibition represents a return to roots, aimed at denouncing the exodus of young people in a perilous era marked by economic, social and political crises. Through his meticulously composed semi-abstract oil paintings, Ghazzawi delivers an architectural work that conveys messages of peace, comfort and hope. Favoring bright and shimmering tones, he extends an invitation to serenity and completeness. Most of his works feature a wooden ladder and a bird, two highly significant symbols. The wooden ladder, once pivotal in daily life but now replaced by iron, concrete and elevators, serves as an image for a return to basics—to highlight the beauty of simple things that are often neglected or forgotten in favor of technology but which, in fact, contribute poetry. The ladder also takes us from the earth to the skies and the celestial. “On a personal level, it was with this ladder that I accessed the Arzal, the roof of my house. This ascent represented for me a transition from the earthly world to the universe, far from human settlements. It gave me confidence and independence, like a bird that breaks free and spreads its wings to fly freely to new horizons. Isn’t the ladder also indicative of various social identities? And the bird is intrinsically connected to it, as it does not require this means to rise and migrate.”
Article written by Elga Trad
*On September 12 at 6 PM, the artist will hold a lecture at the Escape Gallery on the topic: Iconography of Max Ernst’s Painting: Max Ernst’s Room.
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https://www.agendaculturel.com/article/memoire-dabsence
