Zalfa Halabi Art gallery is delighted to announce that Yasmina Hilal’s most recent body of work I see me in you (a literal translation of the original arabic title ي)فيك حالي بشوف (which debuted earlier this year at MENART FAIR, will now be on display in Lebanon for the first time starting Thursday July 27th from 6 till 9 PM. Featuring yet unseen works, the collection has been curated to take viewers on a journey through Hilal’s artistic process all the while paying homage to the women in our society that were/are empowering figures in our lives.

Located at the gallery’s second showroom on Saeb Salam, this inaugural exhibit will mark Hilal’s 2 nd year of representation by Zalfa Halabi Art Gallery. In 2022, Hilal had her first solo show with the gallery entitled Trial & Error; which featured a collection of her collages using photographs from her fashion shoots. I see me in you combines dark room prints, collage work, video work, and installations in a single project that is relatable to a Lebanese audience and deeply rooted in their culture and traditions.

Yasmina Hilal, who has participated in 6 collective exhibitions and has had 2 solo shows in the past couple of years, enjoys working with her hands and firmly believes that in order for a photograph to be complete it has to be manipulated and/or deconstructed. This is where a meticulous cutting process takes place as the artist takes the image apart and then puts it back together almost as if forming a puzzle. Another added layer to this process is the type of film Yasmina favors, 35 or 120 mm, in order to give the shots a relevant vintage feeling.

This new exhibition begins with a series of unique dark room prints, from which Hilal created the body of collages. More recently, she collaborated with artists and creatives to make a video and a holographic work alongside a life-size mirror installation that breakdown and scatter these beliefs that get passed down from generation to generation that resemble her collages, giving room for a more modern version of womanhood.

In a striking contrast to typical fashion photography Hilal’s work is less about achieving perfection and more about celebrating imperfection. This is yet another reason Yasmina gravitates towards taking a shot and then cutting it up to increase or decrease limbs and body parts. None of this process is haphazard but rather a calcite risk to deconstruct an image and offer the viewer something to look at that breaks down the boundaries in the normally meticulous world of fashion photography. 

For the original showing in Brussels, Hilal had photographed several young women wearing clothing items that belong to their mothers, aunts and/or grandmothers and posing in their homes. The starting point for this series is Yasmina Hilal’s grandmother’s home. Not only the house itself but the treasure trove of trinkets and antique gems that proved to be a growing fascination for the artist’s developing photographic eye. 

Another indispensable source of inspiration is Hilal’s mother’s blue velvet wedding dress that the artist wore and photographed herself in during the pandemic. The aforementioned a-typical gown; which was not part of the original exhibition; is now on display as a symbol of intergenerational ideals of beauty and femininity.