Ephemeral Lands

"Was I born of a lie, 

in a country that did not exist?"

Inspired by the words of Nadia Tueni, Salah Missi examines how the construction of a collective identity is correlated with the existence of mental boundaries, and how our existence is shaped by it.

In Lebanon, a multiplicity of borders - be they political, linguistic, sectarian, ethnic, cultural, etc. - are superimposed on one another, contributing to the construction of radical otherness that obstruct society from ever being-together. As a result, we find ourselves trapped in a never-ending cycle of struggles, conflicts and crises, echoing the paths of those who came before and those who are yet-to-come.

In his Landscape series, the artist reflects on the pervasive problems interloping between the personal and the collective. Missi explores the fragmentary experience of a nation by depicting a group burial symbolizing the shared collective weight of existence, while at the same time the characters appear to be isolated from each other.

The two following series then shift to the condition of the individual compelled to make choices to exist.

With To the man who hid in his own shadow, the portraits of Missi explore the posture of cecity and denial adopted as a survival mechanism in the face of the harsh realities that surround his characters.                                                         

To a man who lived within a trial offers an alternative and focuses on self-reflection and judgment, inviting spectators to consider taking back control of their lives. This corpus of works serves as a mirror reflecting the quest for autonomy in Lebanon's complex socio-political landscape.

The isolation of individuals in an endless loop becomes the central theme, and is personified by figures existing in an ambivalent and obscure context, devoid of any narrative and repeated to the point of unbearable boredom. Executed exclusively in black, these artworks symbolize “The state of lack of goodness”, more than death and sorrow by offering a poignant reflection on the Lebanese condition.