Samir Khaddaje: Selected Works

Overview

In 1990, Samir Khaddaje moved from Beirut to Paris, where he was given a studio and accommodation in the basement of the Cognac-Jay Hospital. This hospital-studio provided another face to human life (suffering, pain, weakness, vitality, death) and presented him with a new and intimate exposure to humanity. One of the hospital patients, a gravely ill prostitute named Margarette who was rejected by her parents, inspired a selection of ten artist books, produced between 1995 and 2016, which Khaddaje presents at SB13.

After many unsuccessful attempts to paint Margarette, the artist recalls how the need for another medium imposed itself. Seeking to paint ‘a life’, the book pages embody the succession of a life’s moments, attitudes, behaviours, fears, love and pain. For SB13, these books have been digitised, providing access to their contents through screens installed around the display of originals. While the digital presentation provides insight into the life and death of Margarette, the books’ physicality—their varyious scales and weights, the light feathery quality of some pages and the leathery feel of others—palpably conveys the vitality of Khaddaje’s engagement with Margarette in a work that will forever bear her name.

This project was part of Sharjah Biennial 13.