Ilat Knayzeh
B. 1990, Lebanon
Ilat Knayzeh is a Lebanese-Ghanaian artist and filmmaker who graduated as a Graphic Designer from the Lebanese American University in 2012. She has been passionate about painting since childhood and has further honed her skills through classes in Fabriano and under the guidance of the late painter Haidar Hammoui. In 2009, she began experimenting with her personal painting style and has been dedicated to painting ever since.
Knayzeh has held solo exhibitions in Beirut and has also showcased her work internationally as part of the Amannay International Theatre Festival in Morocco. Additionally, she has participated in several group exhibitions.
In 2012, Knayzeh co-founded MISHKAL, a youth festival for all arts launched by AFPA, where she served as a committee member and the festival's Graphic Designer in its first two editions (2012 & 2013). In 2017, she co-founded Fine Line Production, an audio-visual production house in Beirut, and is currently involved in managing the production house while also freelancing as a production designer, art director, and graphic designer.
She has actively participated in various art festivals throughout Lebanon and has contributed to several murals both in Beirut and internationally.
About her work
Inspired by African culture, tribal life, and oriental cultures, Ilat Knayzeh's artwork reflects a vibrant diversity of colors and bold yet beautiful combinations. Through her abstract paintings, she explores the concept that all humans originated from the same place, while recognizing that each painting can be interpreted in countless ways by different individuals. Knayzeh employs colors as a means to express emotions and evoke feelings in her art.
Horma
The installation piece titled Horma provides a depiction of the situation faced by women in our society. It consists of multiple layers that convey various aspects of this reality. The first layer represents a colorful 3D monument, symbolizing the untapped potential that women possess within themselves. The second layer represents the dress, which metaphorically represents the societal constraints imposed upon women. The third layer features small badges sewn onto the dress, displaying common demeaning sentences about women, which often persistently adhere to them and haunt them. Finally, the last layer comprises removable external pieces of the dress, on which empowering quotations by strong Arab women, as well as one by Mahmoud Darwish, emphasizing the importance of defying societal expectations, are inscribed.
Ilat Knayzeh
Horma, 2017
Mixed media
Loan from the artist