فير زملر غاليري Sfeir-Semler Gallery

Mounira Al Solh

Mounira Al Solh (b. 1978, Lebanon; lives and works between Beirut and Amsterdam) is a visual artist whose practice spans installation, painting, sculpture, video, drawing, text, embroidery, and performative gestures. Through micro-history and mythological storytelling, her work engages with equality and bears witness to the impact of conflict and displacement. Al Solh’s work is sociopolitically engaged while being poetically escapist at the same time. Her practice utilizes oral documentation, multidisciplinary collaboration, and wordplay to explore themes of memory and loss. Motivated by acts of sharing and storytelling, change, and resistance, Al Solh strives to craft a sensory language that transcends nationality and creed. Read more

In 2008, Al Solh started NOA Magazine (Not Only Arabic), a collaborative initiative co-edited with collaborators such as Fadi El Tofeili, Mona Abu Rayyan and Jacques Aswad. She co-founded NOA Language School in Amsterdam (2013), which functioned as a temporary research platform for investigations into the relationships between language and immigration.

Al Solh has had solo exhibitions at Bonnefanten, Maastricht, The Netherlands (2025); Serralves Museum, Porto, Portugal (2025), Museumsquartier Osnabrück, Germany (2022); BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, UK (2022); Mori Art Museum, Tokyo (2020); Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai (2018); Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha (2018); and The Art Institute Chicago (2018). She has also participated in group exhibitions including at Centre Pompidou Metz, France (2025), Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, the Netherlands (2024); Sharjah Biennial (2023); Museum Het Valkhof, Nijmegen, the Netherlands (2022); Busan Biennale (2022); Musée National de Pablo Picasso–La Guerre et la Paix, Vallauris, France (2020); Palais De Tokyo, Paris (2020); Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (2020); Carré d’Art Musée d’art contemporain de Nîmes (2018), Documenta 14, Kassel and Athens (2017); Venice Biennale (2015); New Museum Triennial, New York (2012); Sharjah Biennial 9 (2009); and 11th International Istanbul Biennial (2009), among others.

In 2024, Al Solh represented Lebanon at the 60th Venice Biennale.

She is the winner of the ABN AMRO Art Award (2023); The Derek Williams Trust Artes Mundi Purchase Prize (2023); received the Uriôt Prize from the Rijksakademie, 2 of 12 Amsterdam (2007) and the Black Magic Woman Award, Amsterdam (2007). She was also shortlisted for the Abraaj Group Art Prize, Dubai (2015) and nominated for the Volkskrant Award, Amsterdam (2009). Her video Rawane’s Song won the jury prize at Videobrasil (2007).

Al Solh learned the double bass at the national conservatory of music in Lebanon, then studied painting at the Lebanese University in Beirut (1997–01) and Fine Arts at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam (2003–06). She was also a research resident at Rijksakademie, Amsterdam (2007–08).

A Double Burger and Two Metamorphoses, 2010, Video (color, sound), 24'
1/6Mounira Al Solh, A Double Burger and Two Metamorphoses, 2011, video, color, sound, 24 min (still)
Clogged, 2014, Installation with 100 pairs of wooden clogs dispursed across the floor, dimensions variable
2/6Mounira Al Solh, Clogged, 2014, Installation with 100 pairs of wooden clogs dispursed across the floor, dimensions variable
The Mother of David and Goliath, 2019, Oil on canvas, 164.4 x 120 cm
3/6Mounira Al Solh, The Mother of David and Goliath, 2019, oil on canvas, 164.4 × 120 cm
4/6Mounira Al Solh, 13 april, 13 april, 13 april, 2020, blood and ink on paper, 21.6 × 27.4 cm
Exhibition view, Artes Mundi 10, 2023-24, National Museum Cardiff, Cardiff, UK
5/6Mounira Al Solh, A night hour, as long as night, 2023, textile on wooden structure, hanging dowels, various dimensions, unique. Installation view, Artes Mundi 10, National Museum Cardiff, Cardiff, UK, 2023. Photo: Polly Thomas
A Dance with her Myth, exhibition view, La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy, 2024
6/6Exhibition view, Mounira Al Solh, A Dance with her Myth, Lebanese Pavilion, La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy, 2024. Photo: Federico Vespignani © LVAA

Selected Press

Gallery Exhibitions

Exhibitions Beyond

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2027

  • Mounira Al Solh: A land as big as her skin, Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE (forthcoming)

2026

  • Mounira Al Solh: A land as big as her skin, Arnolfini, Bristol, UK (forthcoming)

2025

  • A land as big as her skin, Bonnefanten Museum, Maastricht, Netherlands

  • Stray Salt, Sfeir-Semler Gallery Downtown, Beirut, Lebanon

  • OH PIGEON, DON’T SLEEP, DON’T SLEEP, Serralves Museum, Porto, Portugal

2024

  • Lebanese Pavilion, La Biennale Di Venezia, Venice, Italy

2023

  • Nami Nami Noooom, Yalla Tnaaam, H'ART Museum, the ABN AMRO Art Award, Amsterdam, Netherlands

  • Pocket Rhythms, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg, Germany

2022

  • A day is as long as a year, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, UK

2021

  • 13 April, 13 April, 13 April, Museumsquartier Osnabrück, Germany

2020

  • MAM Screen 013: Mounira Al Solh, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan

2019

  • The Mother of David and Goliath, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon

2018

  • Artist’s Rooms, Jameel Arts Center, Dubai, UAE

  • I strongly believe in our right to be frivolous, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha, Qatar

  • I strongly believe in our right to be frivolous, The Art Institute Chicago, Illinois, USA

2016

  • I Want to Be a Party, Sfeir-Semler Gallery Hamburg, Germany

  • I Strongly Believe in Our Right to Be Frivolous, Alt Art Space, Istanbul, Turkey

2014

  • All Mother Tongues are Difficult, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon

  • Now Eat My Script, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany

2012

  • The Sea Is A Stereo, Grunt Gallery, Vancouver, Canada

  • Dinosaurs, Art in General, New York, USA

2011

  • Mounira Al Solh, René Daniëls and Bassam Ramlawi, Stedelijk Museum Bureau, Amsterdam, Netherlands

2010

  • The Sea Is A Stereo, Kunsthalle Lissabon, Lisboa, Portugal

  • Exhibition No. 17, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon

2008

  • Rijksakademie, Open Ateliers, Amsterdam, Netherlands

2005

  • Squatted Vitrine, Squat Deluxe, Rotterdam, Netherlands

2003

  • 150 Watts, Fennel Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon

Selected Group Exhibitions

2026

  • Sonsbeek 2026, 13th edition of Sonsbeek, Park Sonsbeek, Arnhem, Netherlands

  • Rememory, Biennale of Sydney, Campbelltown Arts Centre, Sydney, Australia (forthcoming)

  • The Wall of She, Gallery Sofie Van de Velde, Antwerp, Belgium (forthcoming)

2025

  • Sweeter than Honey. A Panorama of Written Art, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, Germany

  • The Shelter of Stories: Ways of Telling, Ways of Dwelling, Compton Verney, Warwick, UK

  • The Shade, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Karantina, Beirut, Lebanon

  • BEDROCK, Liverpool Biennal, Liverpool, UK

  • Évidence: Dessiner le présent, Musée Tomi Ungerer – Centre international de l'Illustration Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France

  • AFTER THE END. CARTOGRAPHIES FOR ANOTHER TIME, Centre Pompidou, Metz, France

  • Mal d’Archive II, ontsteking, Flemish, Belgium

  • Flesh Flowers, Aïshti Foundation, Beirut, Lebanon

2024

  • Unravel: The Power and Politics of Textiles in Art, Barbican Art Gallery, London, UK

  • Unravel: The Power and Politics of Textiles in Art, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands

  • Love is louder, Bozar, Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels

  • Politics of Love, Kunsthaus Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

2023

  • Dream City Festival, Tunis, Tunisia

  • Artes Mundi 10, National Museum Cardiff, Cardiff, UK

  • Choreographies of the Impossible, 35th Bienal De São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

  • My past is a foreign country, DEO Projects, Temenos Hamidiye & Ottoman Baths, Chios, Greece

  • Material Power: Palestinian Embroidery, The Whitworth, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

  • Threads: ‘Breathing stories into materials’, Arnolfini, Bristol, UK

  • Material Power: Palestinian Embroidery, Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, UK

  • Traces of Displacement, The Whitworth, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

  • Indiscipline, WIELS, Brussels and Grand Casino, Knokke-Heist, Belgium

  • Thinking Historically in the Present, Sharjah Biennial 15, Sharjah, UAE

2022

  • Moving Stories, Museum Het Valkhof, Nijmengen, Netherlands

  • We, on the rising wave, Busan Biennale, Busan, South Korea

2021

  • Interwoven Histories by Touch/Trace, ROZENSTRAAT, Amsterdam, Netherlands

2020

  • Risquons-Tout, WIELS, Brussels, Belgium

  • Mounira Al Solh, Musée national Pablo Picasso, La Guerre et la Paix, Place de la Libération, Vallauris, France

  • Faces: a Look at the Other, Carré d’Art, Nîmes, France

  • Fragmenter le monde / Our world is burning, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France

  • QALQALAH قلقلة : plus d’une langue, Centre régional d'art contemporain, CRAC OCCITANIE / Pyrénées-Méditerranée, Sète, France

2019

  • Positions #5, Van Abbe Museum, Eindhoven, Netherlands

  • Gohyang: Home, Seoul Museum of Art, South Korea

  • Social Movement, If I Can’t Dance I Don’t Want to be Part of Your Revolution, Amsterdam, Netherlands

2018

  • Close: Drawn Portraits, The Drawing Room, London, UK

  • Vanishing Point, Carré d’Art - Museum of Contemporary Art Nîmes, France

  • Strange Days: Memories of the Future, The Store X, London, UK

  • The Line Up: The Power of Drawing Central Museum, Utrecht, Netherlands

  • Acts of Translation, Mohammad and Mahera Abu Ghazaleh Foundation, Amman, Jordan

  • Beirut, Beyrut, Beyrouth, Beyrout, Oslo Kunstforening, Oslo, Norway; Ystad Konstmuseum, Ystad, Sweden; Listasafn Islands, Iceland

  • Whose land have I lit on now? - contemplation on the notions of hospitality, SAVVY Contemporary, Berlin, Germany

2017

  • Contemporary and Future Mediterranean Memories, Fondazione Sambucca, Palermo, Italy

  • Home Beirut. Sounding the Neighbours, MAXXI, Rome, Italy

  • From Ear to Ear, Nottingham Contemporary, UK

  • 2017 Asian Art Biennial: Negotiating the Future for Changing the Society and Fashioning the Future, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan

  • Action!, Kunsthaus Zürich, Switzerland

  • Suspended Territories - Artists from the Middle East and North Africa, Marta Herford, Germany

  • dOCUMENTA 14, Benaki Museum of Islamic Art, Athens, Greece

  • dOCUMENTA 14, Hansa Häuser, Kassel, Germany

  • The Restless Earth, La Triennale di Milano, Fondazione Nicola Trussardi, Milan, Italy

  • My future is in my past and my past is my present, Arti et Amicitiae, Amsterdam, Netherlands

  • Graphic Witness, Drawing Room, London, UK

  • Art and Alphabet, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany

  • A World Not Ours, La Kunsthalle - Center d'Art Contemporain Mullhouse, France

2016

  • The Measure of our Traveling Feet, Marres Maastricht, Netherlands

  • Everything in Nature has a Lyrical Essence, a tragic fate, a comic existence, Art Exnergasse, Vienna, Austria

  • Land Without Land, Heidelberger Kunstverein, Germany

  • We Refugees - Of the Right to Have Rights, Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe, Germany

2015

  • Gallery Gallery 3010, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon

  • All the World’s Futures, 56th Venice Biennial, Venice, Italy

  • In Search Of Matisse, Henie Onstad Art Enter (HOK), Høvikodden, Norway

  • A 1000 Times No, E-Werk, Freiburg, Germany

  • The Abraaj Group Art Prize, Art Dubai, Dubai, UAE

2014

  • Here and Elsewhere, New Museum, New York, USA

  • Drowning and swallowing this text, LACE, Los Angeles, USA

  • I scarcely have the right to use this ghostly verb, Parsons, The New School New York, USA

  • Neighbors, Istanbul Modern, Istanbul, Turkey

  • 5th Biennial Marrakech, Marrakech, Morocco

2013

  • Dear Art, Calvert 22 Foundation, London, UK

  • Homeworks 6, Ashkal Alwan, Beirut, Lebanon

2012

  • Arab Express: The Latest Art form the Arab World, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan

  • Our Work Is Never Over, Matadero Madrid, Contemporary Art Center, Madrid, Spain

  • Tactics For Now And Now, Bucharest Biennial 5, Pavilion Unicredit, Bucharest, Romania

  • The Ungovernables, New Museum Triennial, New Museum, New York, USA

  • Dinosaurs, Art in General, New York, USA

  • Dear Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova and Moderna Galerija Ljubljana, Slovenia

  • -o-l-o-g-y, Amstel 41, Amsterdam, Netherlands

  • De Menocchio, Nous savons beaucoup de choses, Bétonsalon, Paris, France

2011

  • I Decided Not to Save the World, Tate Modern, London, UK in collaboration with SALT Istanbul, Turkey

  • A Rock and a Hard Place, 3rd Thessaloniki Biennial of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki, Greece

  • The Sea Is A Stereo, Viborg Kunsthal, Denmark

  • Beirut, project space, Kunsthalle Wien, Austria

2010

  • Manifesta 8, The European Biennial of Contemporary Art, Region of Murcia, Spain in Dialogue with Northern Africa

  • The Future of Tradition, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany

  • Accident, KunstBunker, forum for contemporary art, Nuremberg, Germany

  • Heat Wave, Lombard-Freid Projects, New York, USA

  • Witty Lo-Fi Works with Knotty Thoughts, Montevideo (NIMK), Amsterdam, Netherlands

  • I’m Not Here. An Exhibition Without Francis Alÿs, De Appel, Amsterdam, Netherlands

  • Volkskrant Prize, Stedelijk Museum Scheidam, Netherlands

  • Categorical Imperatives, The Guild Art Gallery, New York, USA and Mumbai, India

Awards and Grants

2023

  • ABN AMRO Art Award

2022

  • Artes Mundi Prize (shortlisted)

2015

  • Kamel Lazaar Project Fund

2014

  • The Abraaj Art Prize (shortlisted)

2010

  • Volkskrant Beeldende Kunst Prize (nominated)

2007

  • Uriot Prize, Rijksakademie NL 2007 Grant

  • 16th International Electronic Art Festival – Videobrasil

Public Collections

Education