Mina El Shourouk ila Al Fahmah, 2019

For years, the artist has been gathering stories told by women involving women’s liberation and defying systems of suppression. The tent, assembled to create a secluded space, includes these stories embroidered into its inner walls ranging from women of all ages to powerful known figures from Islamic history. The embroidered drawings communicate the content from one of the stories included in each tent, illustrating animals as well as simplified women body parts transformed into interlaced patterns.

The Arabic calligraphy embroidered on each triangle of the tents represent the 24 Arabic names for each hour in a day and night. Here the allusion of time is dealt with in a poetical way to give the tents a sense of rhythm, while also indicating the ongoing timely need for women to use their wits as they continue in their struggle for equality. Within the installation there is also an element of sound where a megaphone plays a recording by the Lebanese singer Rima Khcheiche.
 

I strongly believe in our right to be frivolous, 2012-ongoing

Since 2012, Al Solh has been drawing and telling stories derived from one to one conversations with displaced people living in her direct neighborhood; as well as testimonies of refugees, exiled individuals and families. Sketching each individual helps the artist get closer to each person allowing for the discussion to move beyond politics and social/historical events to more personal and private everyday matters. These series of drawings, around 500 so far, are a time and a socio-geographic displacement document.