Mounira Al Solh is a visual artist embracing inter alia video and video installations, painting and drawing, text, embroidery, and performative gestures.
2025 Biennial Year Find out more
Liverpool Biennial 2025
'I Strongly Believe in Our Right to Be Frivolous', 2012-ongoing
The drawings on display here are part of an ongoing series, ‘I Strongly Believe in
Our Right to Be Frivolous’, which comprises over 500 drawings and embroideries to
date. The works record conversations the artist has had with displaced individuals,
groups and families since 2012.
Beginning in Beirut, as the Syrian revolution gradually turned into a conflict, the artist began by conversing with Syrian refugees in Lebanon. The artist was attempting to convey her Syria, having grown up there, as well as the immediate consequence of the conflict in Lebanon. Later, the artist moved to The Netherlands, where she continued to portray individuals of diverse ethnicities. The artwork became a testimony of mostly forced displacement. Since then, she has
The drawings on display here are part of an ongoing series, ‘I Strongly Believe in Beginning in Beirut, as the Syrian revolution gradually turned into a conflict, the artist began by conversing with Syrian refugees in Lebanon. The artist was attempting to convey her Syria, having grown up there, as well as the immediate consequence of the conflict in Lebanon. Later, the artist moved to The Netherlands, where she continued to portray individuals of diverse ethnicities. The artwork became a testimony of mostly forced displacement. Since then, she has drawn individuals from many origins, including Syrians, Lebanese, Iraqis, Afghans, Sudanese, Ethiopians, and many more, in various cities. The different locations of the drawings and the various backgrounds of her sitters reveal the transnational and intergenerational extent of the refugee crisis. This presentation includes three new drawings presented for the first time at Liverpool Biennial 2025. The title comes from a statement by Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, whose work conveys his emotional experience of exile. Through her community-driven, dialogue based process, Al Solh reflects on her childhood in 1980s war-torn Lebanon, using drawing as a tool for understanding and processing collective trauma. Tate. Presented by the artist 2021. T15810. Tate. Purchased using funds provided by the 2020 Frieze Tate Fund supported by Endeavor to benefit the Tate collection 2021. T15812-19. ‘I Strongly Believe in Our Right to Be Frivolous’ #s A1, A2 and A3 are presented courtesy of the artist and Sfeir-Semler Gallery Beirut/Hamburg.
'I Strongly Believe in Our Right to Be Frivolous', 2012-ongoing
Our Right to Be Frivolous’, which comprises over 500 drawings and embroideries to
date. The works record conversations the artist has had with displaced individuals,
groups and families since 2012.
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Mounira Al Solh, I strongly believe in our right to be frivolous. Courtesy of the Artist
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Mounira Al Solh, I strongly believe in our right to be frivolous. Courtesy of the Artist
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Mounira Al Solh, I strongly believe in our right to be frivolous. Courtesy of the Artist
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Mounira Al Solh, I strongly believe in our right to be frivolous. Courtesy of the Artist
Venue
Tate Liverpool + RIBA North
21 Mann Island, Liverpool L3 1BPAccess facilities available
View venue
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Mounira Al Solh, I strongly believe in our right to be frivolous. Courtesy of the Artist -
Mounira Al Solh, I strongly believe in our right to be frivolous. Courtesy of the Artist -
Mounira Al Solh, I strongly believe in our right to be frivolous. Courtesy of the Artist -
Mounira Al Solh, I strongly believe in our right to be frivolous. Courtesy of the Artist
