Biography
Jayce Salloum has been working since 1975 in various mediums, including installation, photography, video, mixed media, text and performance art He has also curated exhibitions, conducted workshops and coordinated cultural projects. His projects are often rooted in an intimate engagement with place. Salloum is a grandson of Syrian or Lebanese immigrants and was born and raised on others’ land, the Sylix (Okanagan) territory. He is currently based in Vancouver, Canada, which he acknowledges as the unceded stolen lands of the Xʷməθkʷey̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh + Səíl̓wətaʔł peoples. During his time in the United States, he participated in the Whitney Museum of American Art’s Independent Study Program as well as the P.S.1 National and International Studio Program, both based out of New York.
An intimate engagement with place is central to Salloum’s artistic practice. As if an itinerant geographer of conflicted territories, he observes the world and creates and collects images and texts to make meaning from them. Salloum’s practice investigates how knowledge is generated and analyses its connection to our conceptions of truth and how we formulate our convictions. He attempts to deconstruct and challenge conventional interpretations of socio-political realities cultivated through information-disseminating mediums such as the international media.
His art has been exhibited widely in local and international venues, from the small unnamed storefronts and community centres of his Vancouver neighbourhood to internationally recognised institutions and events. His solo exhibitions include Jayce Salloum: history of the present, Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon, Canada (2012), Jayce Salloum: Récits alternatifs (du Liban à l’Afghanistan, par la Vallée de l’Okanagan…), Canadian Cultural Centre, Paris (2012), Bamiyan (the heart has no love/pain/generosity is not a heart), a collaboration with Afghan-Hazara artist Khadim Ali, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada (2010), and Jayce Salloum: history of the present, Kamloops Art Gallery, Canada (2009 – 2010).
He has participated in group exhibitions including 15th Biennale of Sydney, Australia (2006), Sharjah Biennial 7 (2005), 8th Havana Biennial, Cuba (2003), and International Film Festival Rotterdam, the Netherlands (1999, 2003).
His written work has been featured in numerous journals such as Third Text, Documents, Framework, Fuse, Felix, Mix, Public, Public Culture, Semiotext(e), and publications, such as The Archive (Whitechapel, London/The MIT Press, 2006), Projecting Migration: Transcultural Documentary Practice (Wallflower Press, London, 2007), and Practical Dreamers: Conversations with Movie Artists (Coach House Press, Toronto, 2008).
He earned a BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1980, followed by an MFA from the University of California, San Diego in 1988.
Born in 1958 in Kelowana, Canada, Jayce Salloum lives and works on Xʷməθkʷey̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh + Səíl̓wətaʔł lands, Canada
SAF participation:
Genealogies in the Middle East and Latin America (2021)
do it بالعربي [in Arabic] (2016)
In Spite of it All (2012)
Sharjah Biennial 7
Related Content
Genealogies in the Middle East and Latin America
Sharjah Art Foundation presents a series of online film screenings jointly organised with Anna Goetz, who initiated this collaborative project featuring 21 artists and collectives from the Middle East and Latin America working in film and video.
do it بالعربي
Join in, take part and collaborate as individuals, families, friends – as a community, together in do it بالعربي [in Arabic] – a project organised by Sharjah Art Foundation.
In Spite of it All
This exhibition of work from the Sharjah Art Foundation’s growing collection presents a range of artistic responses to some of the most pressing issues we are faced with today.
Sharjah Biennial 7
Sharjah Biennial 7