There she goes, walking through life as though she belonged. Oh! wait, who are talking about again? It's late in the afternoon. The most beautiful words, lately.
This is not the time to be gazing at the floating scenes. Perhaps a small glimpse at the unfolding lives. And why not, at the trapped memories.
On the occasion of The Lebanese American University's centennial year, The Institute of Art in the Arab world at the LAU School Of architecture and design - in collaboration with the Alumni relations office and the Arab Institute for women, I am attending a glorious event in honor of renowned painter and sculptor, Saloua Raouda Choucair.
Now that is rather a long sentence, I agree, but so very becoming this late afternoon.
Ah! late afternoon, the most beautiful words, lately.
An exposition and the launching of a book I was lucky enough to read in one night.
Inside the spacious Gezairi Art gallery, people seem happy. Or perhaps it is my own happiness which is reflecting on this luminous hall.
Dr.Yasmine Nachabe Taan, who wrote the book and curated the exhibition( Modern Arab Design - Saloua Raouda Choucair - across Materials and functions), Is also happy, and her joy emanates from the fact I found the material accessible enough to finish in one night.
Her Book:
SALOUA RAOUDA CHOUCAIR... MODERN ARAB DESIGN: AN EXPLANATION OF ABSTRACTION ACROSS MATERIALS AND FUNCTIONS...
brings us closer to a woman who walked through life as though she belonged.
And Yasmine Nachabe Taan, if we allow ourselves to part with the honorific this late afternoon, signs me her book in the following manner:
TO HANADI, I AM SO HAPPY TO BE FEATURED IN YOUR BLOG. YALLA MORE ON PIONEER WOMEN ARTISTS!
Saloua Raouda Choucair is indeed a pioneer woman artist. Perhaps it is more appropriate to say "was". After all, when we die, it is for a long time.
Choucair was born in 1916 and passed away in 2017.
She immersed herself in paintings, sculptures, and according to Yasmine, "also helped shape thinking about design processes and production. Through her product, furniture, textiles and jewelry design drawing and production, combined with her prolific and experimental sculptures, the reader will discover Choucair's work".
And Yasmine insists that "Books should be accessible. There is so much to write about her. This book is an introduction to Saloua Raouda Choucair. We're trying to invite more researchers to look into writing about women designers, artists".
Now that is a life worth living. To dive into the inner worlds of women who lived as though they belonged. Or perhaps, lived well because they were not trying to belong.
For Yasmine, "this series is about designers. It was published in 2019". We all know what has been unfolding since then! Therefore the launching had to wait. As did we all.
What is certain, is that Choucair was a pioneer of abstract Art in the Middle - East - she was not afraid of furniture, textiles, Jewelry and prolific and experimental Sculptures - she made sure to combine her knowledge in science, Islamic geometry, engineering and poetry to produce many of the design works created over a period of 5 decades.
According to Yasmine who holds a PHD in Art history and communication studies at the McGill University, one of her teachers At LAU mentioned Choucair in one of her classes, and organized a visit to her atelier in Hamra Street, which has now, as fate would have it, turned into a Parking lot.
Yasmine soon became intrigued by this artist and the diversity of material that she used in her creative process.
And as it is always the case, years passed.
Then around 2015 or 2016, she met her daughter, Hala, who is the custodian of all the work her mother never tired of fastening around her days. Weaving them delicately around her in order to create her own world.
Hala then invited Yasmine to Clemenceau Street to visit Her mother's Studio, "And there, I discovered the design work. There were certainly sculptures, and paintings. But Hala also showed me scarves, garments, and a huge box filled with rings. Prototypes of rings made from clay. I also saw electronic appliances: heater, lighter, lamps, fountains. All of them in prototype forms".
Therefore, it was only natural that, in addition to the book launch in the spacious Gezairi Art Gallery, there should be works created by a woman whose atelier was her world.
"This exhibition is certainly about this mind! how it is operating and producing artistic work, creative work which had, at the same time function and utility. Thinking about the end user and how they are gonna use it".
It is interesting to note that most of her work, "The tapestry (as an example), was used by her family".
She even designed a hair clip for her only child, Hala, on which she wrote her name using Plexi. "The material she used was so untraditional, so unconventional at that time".
Saloua Raouda Choucair created on a daily basis. Now that is a life worth living.
She was not daunted by slippers! Yes, slippers. For her, they were a story worth talking about. "In the book, I tried to speak about how her artistic mind fed into her design work".
One night. That is all it took for me to finish Yasmine's book on the woman who loved her Studio and turned it into her world.
I can weave a short story on the Brooch. The dark enamel and epoxy inscriptions on copper she created in the 1970s.
And I most certainly can daydream for hours upon reading Yasmine's following words written in one page or another: "Choucair may not have seen herself as a designer, but when at age 14, she crafted custom - made rabbit skin slippers for members of her family and friends, these slippers can be seen as Choucair's debut in her long journey".
These enchanting slippers were called by her cousin:
"AHTHIAT SALOUA" (In Arabic, meaning Saloua's shoes).
And do not get me talking about that coat! That hand- woven wool with colorful threads she created in 1973. She designed it, and it was hand - woven on a traditional nol, or loom, by Abu Jouhayna (The father of Jouhayna in Arabic) and the artisans in kfarqatra, in the shouf region in Lebanon.
As for the details of that romantic coat, well, will just highlight its colorful threads and its buttons made out of seeds.
But nothing fuels my imagination more than the revolving tower with removable tray shelves made from natural wood in the 70's.
Now that sure is an invitation for daydreaming.
Opening the door that leads to Choucair's world, takes us into the corridors of the abstract.
The world of a woman who lived to be a hundred, and who considered her atelier the natural extension of her imagination. A sublime imagination which collaborated with functionality.
A fascination with Sufi geometry and the concept of infinity.
And this late afternoon, it seems so easy to understand the magnitude of the imagination.
Its ability to conquer reality.
How?
Simply by acknowledging its presence. And then moving on.
AR 
EN