Saturday, July 19, 2008

Tagreed Darghouth @ Agial Art Gallery


Mirror, Mirror..., Acrylic on canvas, 30 x 25 cm (each), 2008@ Agial Art Gallery

Currently at Agial Art Gallery in Beirut is a solo exhibition of recent work from Tagreed Darghouth entitled "Mirror, Mirror..." on view until the 31th of July 2008.

The current work by Tagreed Darghouth explores notions of feminine form, age and aesthetic manipulation through plastic surgery. These portraits question refashioning the body to better assimilate to contemporary social ideals of what beauty is thought to be. Each woman is captured at a moment of suspense, the healing stage, a period of the unknown. Bandages conceal the area that has been reshaped and redefined leaving a sense of wonder and mystery between the image and the viewer. How did the surgery turn out? Will each one be content with the face reflected back at them?

In contrast to the "Carnal Art" of French performance artist Orlan and her unique self portraiture realized with the help of technology, the paintings of Ms. Darghouth however are a series of intimate studies of women questioning the self, and their outward physical appearances.

Mariam, acrylic on canvas, 100 x 150 cm, 2008 @ Agial Art Gallery


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