Mounira Al Solh

Biography

Conceptual artist Mounira Al Solh employs a humorous and playful approach in her work to highlight gender issues, politics and the role of art in Arab society. Her artistic practice spans video, drawing, painting, embroidery, photography, performance and magazine publishing and magazine publishing.

Using irony and a self-reflective approach, her work examines feminist issues and forced migration caused by wars and instability, and consequences of the latter. She researches ways which lead to an urgent storytelling practice that is filled with intuition and addresses the female body.

Al Solh's work has been the subject of exhibitions at Museumsquartier Osnabruck, Germany (2022); BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, UK (2022); Mori Art Museum, Tokyo (2020); Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai (2018); Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha (2018); and The Art Institute Chicago (2018). She has also participated in group exhibitions at Museum Het Valkhof, Nijmengen, the Netherlands (2022); Busan Biennale (2022); ROZENSTRAAT, Amsterdam (2022); Musée National de Pablo Picasso–La Guerre et la Paix, Vallauris, France (2020); Palais De Tokyo, Paris (2020); Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (2020); C’arré d’Art Musée d’art contemporain de Nîmes (2018), Documenta 14, Kassel and Athens (2017); Venice Biennale (2015); New Museum Triennial, New York (2012); Sharjah Biennial 9 (2009); and 11th International Istanbul Biennial (2009), among others.

In 2008, Al Solh started NOA Magazine (Not Only Arabic), a collaborative initiative co-edited with collaborators such as Fadi El Tofeili,Mona Abu Rayyan and Jacques Aswad. She co-founded NOA Language School in Amsterdam (2013), which functioned as a temporary research platform for investigations into the relationships between language and immigration.

She received the Uriôt Prize from the Rijksakademie, Amsterdam (2007) and the Black Magic Woman Award, Amsterdam (2007). She was also shortlisted for the Abraaj Group Art Prize, Dubai (2015) and nominated for the Volkskrant Award, Amsterdam (2009). Her video Rawane's Song won the jury prize at Videobrasil (2007).

She studied theatre, painting and music at the Lebanese University in Beirut (1997–2001) and Fine Arts at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam (2003–2006). She was also a research resident at Rijksakademie, Amsterdam (2007–2008).

Born in Beirut in 1978, she currently lives and works between Beirut and Amsterdam.

SAF participation:
Genealogies in the Middle East and Latin America (2021)
Sharjah Biennial 9