Lebanese artist Ghada Zoghbi is set to unveil her third solo exhibition, “Wild Mindscapes,” at Galerie Janine Rubeiz in Beirut from September 4 to September 28, 2024. The series of paintings, initiated while sketching sceneries of Lebanese mountains and valleys, showcases Zoghbi’s fascination with the formations of rocks and stones.
In the artist’s own words: “Old as the Earth, or at the core of its genesis, extracted from Nature or crafted by men, rooted in the ground, thrown or broken, a stone has more life in it than we believe. It tells stories of creation, of places, a history of those who have known it, sought refuge in it, or tried to employ it.”
“This series of paintings was initiated while I was sketching sceneries of Lebanese mountains and valleys. I found myself fascinated by the formations of rocks and stones I came across. I found myself enjoying the creative process of envisioning and crafting various stone formations to illustrate in my visual representations. In essence, I was turning back to the stone for inspiration, each artwork naturally leading to the next, and prompting a chain of questions in my mind: where do these imagined scenes originate? Is it truly imagination, or could it be a memory passed down through generations, being revived in my spirit? Could it be the recollections of grandmothers who once inhabited this same landscape and touched the same stones? How many stories have these rocks witnessed, and how many of my ancestors have encountered them? If these rocks can evoke memories, what stones will carry my narrative to my grandchildren, and what tales will they recount?”
Born in Shmestar in 1980, Ghada Zoghbi moved to Beirut at the age of 18 to enroll in art teachers’ college. In 2010, she earned a degree in fine art from the Lebanese University. Her first solo show, “Regimes of the Personal” (2016), took place at Artspace Gallery, Beirut, where she presented 13 oil paintings, each telling the personal story of a random person in her local community through images of their closets, launching her questioning of the relation between personal and common.
In 2021, Zoghbi held her second solo exhibition, “Pretty Abandoned,” at Galerie Janine Rubeiz, which was met with great critical and popular acclaim. In this series, she carried on with her exploration of the connection between human beings and their surrounding spaces.
Zoghbi has been taking part in several collective exhibitions and art fairs in Lebanon and abroad, such as London, Jordan, Qatar, Egypt, Algeria, UAE and France. Her group exhibitions include “30 Years of Color” (2023), “Celebrating Painting” (2022), “Beirut 2020,” and “October 17, 2019” (2020) at Galerie Janine Rubeiz, as well as “Beirut Year Zero” (2020) at ArtHaus Beirut.
Her paintings have been acquired by several private collectors and are part of the Sursock Museum’s permanent collection. Zoghbi’s work is regularly exhibited at Galerie Janine Rubeiz, who represents her in Beirut.
Zoghbi insists on having no political or religious affiliations and refuses to adhere to borders drawn and created by power. As an art teacher for 21 years, she worked to enrich young children’s educational experience through art, including inner-city kids and refugee students in Lebanon, before devoting her time to her personal practice.
“Wild Mindscapes“ promises to be a captivating exploration of the artist’s relationship with the natural world and the stories that stones can tell. The exhibition will run from September 4 to September 28, 2024, at Galerie Janine Rubeiz in Beirut.
