Manuella Guiragossian’s exhibition I Am Here at the Contemporary Art Platform (CAP) covers a series of works she started in 2010 to create an artistic discourse to understand and challenge issues that Guiragossian has been dealing with throughout her life such as identity, existence, and survival as human beings, specifically a woman.
Using joyful and childish candor with bursts of colour and strange creatures to tackle the darkest times in her life from the Lebanese Civil War to the current horrors in the country and the world; Manuella portrays resistance against corruption and violence.
With characters that raise their hands up in order to be seen, saying “I Am Here”, she attracts attention to the injustice and discrimination women and children face in the world today creating a small escape and relief through dark times.
Manuella says, “I refuse to give more of my time to war by portraying it in my art. A child’s imagination and unconsciousness is so strong and honest that there is no need to use symbolism to convey an idea. It’s pure and simple and naturally beautiful. This is why I constantly try to tap back into my childhood to recreate that world, which is the only place where I could find refuge from the ugly realities that surrounded us on a daily basis. I try to find peace there and then share it with the rest of the world.”
The exhibition is on view at the Contemporary Art Platform (CAP) until the 20th of June, 2022.
Info is extracted from the press release.
