Reem Bassous
Region: Pacific Coast
My work is an interrogation of post–civil war existence in Lebanon,
where cultural erasure and assertions oscillate under the
prolonged political instability. As a survivor of the war, I unhinge
memories of my youth and explore the contemporary implications
of historical unrest. I situate my personal experience in a national
trajectory.
In the work, the human figure has been reconceptualized to
personify both my home city of Beirut and my generation—the
locale and its inhabitants share the trauma. History informs my
painting process: ghostly figures dissolve into the very material
of which they are made, just as Beirut builds and rebuilds out
of the rubble left by ancient and recent conflict. I render the
ways in which political crisis is internalized with thick layers of
acrylic that blur the distinction between interior and exterior
settings. Patches of sky and architectural motifs disrupt domestic
environments. Focus is shifted away from isolated moments
toward the effects of long-term social conflict endured over many
years.