The Dalloul Artist Collective (DAC), in collaboration with the Ramzi and Saeda Dalloul Art Foundation (DAF), inaugurates its first group exhibition, Testimonies of Fire: Massacres and Masterpieces in Arab Art, opening September 12, 2025, at DAC’s headquarters. Running until October 11, the exhibition confronts themes of violence, displacement, and collective memory, presenting art as both testimony and transformation.
At its centre is the first public presentation of Dia Azzawi’s monumental tapestry The Sabra and Shatila Massacre (2018). Commissioned by DAF and woven over four years at Madrid’s Real Fábrica de Tapices by more than thirty artisans, the work translates Azzawi’s 1982–83 polyptych (now held at Tate) into a portable memorial, embodying grief and resilience in textile form.
Surrounding this landmark piece are works by over twenty leading artists, including Youssef Abdelke, Ayman Baalbaki, Tagreed Darghouth, Jean Boghossian, Abdul Rahman Katanani, Mahmoud Obaidi, and Katya Traboulsi. Across painting, sculpture, tapestry, and installation, the exhibition emphasises material processes—woven threads, forged metal, etched lines, charred surfaces—that carry the scars of history. Many works are monumental in scale, transforming private loss into public remembrance.
Rather than simply recounting events, Testimonies of Fire positions each artwork as a material witness, shaped by the heat of violence and the endurance of memory. The exhibition creates a space where art becomes a vessel of responsibility, urging viewers to reflect on the persistence of tragedy and the possibility of resilience.
Location: Dalloul Artist Collective, Stone Garden Building, Downtown Beirut.
Date: 12 September until 11 October 2025.
About Dalloul Artist Collective
The Dalloul Artist Collective (DAC), founded in 2025 by Dr. Basel Dalloul, is an artist-centered platform dedicated to long-term career support and legacy preservation. Unlike traditional sales-driven models, DAC provides sustainable structures, archiving, rights management, strategic planning, and advocacy, while ensuring artists retain full creative autonomy. From estate planning and institutional matchmaking to digital archiving and curatorial engagement, DAC supports every stage of practice. Operating independently yet in synergy with the Ramzi and Saeda Dalloul Art Foundation (DAF), DAC bridges legacy and practice, transforming DAF’s research and archives into systems that directly serve artists, shaping Arab art’s present and future.