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Art against erasure: A Palestinian sculptor and a Lebanese painter on war, exile and memory
The article profiles Palestinian sculptor Abdul Rahman Katanani and Lebanese painter Ayman Baalbaki, whose work draws on war, displacement and family memory. Their studios and art turn materials and images associated with destruction into records of lives and places threatened with erasure.
Katanani, raised in Beirut’s Sabra and Shatila refugee camp, works with barbed wire, corrugated metal, olive branches and discarded clothes. Baalbaki paints layered scenes of damaged Beirut buildings and veiled figures; his family’s home in southern Lebanon was destroyed, and his father’s paintings were lost or stolen during years of conflict. Their shared themes reflect Lebanon and Palestine’s repeated wars, occupation, civil strife and the unresolved fate of at least 17,000 people who remain missing.
In short
- Two artists turn conflict and displacement into works about memory.
- Katanani uses materials from the Sabra and Shatila camp.
- Baalbaki’s work recalls Beirut’s ruins and his family’s losses.