Samar Mogharbel

B. 1958 , Beirut

Samar Mogharbel first received a B.S. from Beirut University College and received training in ceramics in Lebanon under Dorothy Salhab Kazemi. She then obtained a postgraduate diploma in ceramics from Goldsmiths, University of London. Mogharbel later became an apprentice with Michael O'Brien, a student of a pioneering potter in the UK. Since 1983, she has been teaching ceramics at the Lebanese American University. In 1995, she participated in archaeological excavations and restoration in downtown Beirut, under the guidance of Professor Leila Badr from the American University of Beirut, which greatly influenced her work.

She received the first prize and a special mention at the Sursock Museum's Salon d'Automne in 1998, as well as the silver plaque at the Zabreb Clay Fest in Croatia in 2014. She has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Lebanon and abroad. Her work is held in private collections in Malaysia, the Dominican Republic, Croatia, Sweden, and the Sursock Museum in Beirut.

About her Work

Caught between the paradox of life and death, Samar Mogharbel persistently juxtaposes her human heads against the volcanic rock that obliterated life millions of years ago, as well as iron rods that symbolize contemporary threats to life. She views the malleable clay she works with as the key to life itself.

In the aftermath of war-ravaged Beirut, Mogharbel directed her inquisitive gaze towards the city, which existed as an almost anonymous and shapeless landscape. The skyline was dotted with scaffolding, diggers, and construction cranes, leaving the city in a state of half-reconstruction and half-destruction, or even abandonment. Amidst this backdrop, she discovered not empty spaces, but rather invisible structures scattered throughout the city—almost spectral in nature. These structures unveiled the remnants of old Lebanese houses, relics of past eras, each possessing unique architectural details that brought together a multitude of cultural influences present in Lebanon.

Since 2004, Mogharbel's artistic practice has expanded into video art, including collaborations with artist Greta Nawfal and the creation of stop-motion videos featuring her house as the backdrop.

Nahed Mansour

Samir Mueller