Alight with movement, the paintings of Hala Schoukair are delicate and yet full of presence, if not heavy with weight.

This most recent body of work sees a shift in scale and intention, examining the moment of repetition, her connection

with nature, and the gradual and organic build-up of marks. Her drawings, yet comprised of marks reminiscent of her

paintings, demand an intimate connection. Held up to the light, rows of tiny punched-out dots and sewn lines,

occasional and surprising objects drawn directly from the natural world, complex differences and similarities, tell the

story of her personal journey with the unique directness of close work on paper.

Intensely detailed and repetitive, each mark, and each larger structure created from those marks, retains an

individuality, a trace of the artists hand, her moment with that mark. This long, attentive moment, outside of

language, full of emotion, is the vital force of Shoukair.

Hala Schoukair (b. Beirut, 1957) received her master’s degree in Cinematographic Studies from the Sorbonne

University, Paris, and has been painting and exhibiting her work since her graduation in 1981.

Recently, Hala’s work was part of the ARABOFUTURS exhibition at the Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris (October 2024 -

January 2025). She has also participated in the Abu Dhabi Art Fair in November 2024 and 2023, and had a solo

exhibition, represented by Gallery Bessiere, at Art Paris 2022. Her previous solo shows included You Promised Me

Spring (2017), and Grains of Light (2014), both of which were held at Agial Art Gallery in Beirut.

Recent group exhibitions included Intimate Garden Scene by Ashkal Alwan at Sursock Museum, Beirut (2023 - 2024),

as well as the museum's 32nd Salon D’Automne (2016). She has also participated in the Morgenröte, aurora borealis

and Levantin: Into your solar plexus at the Knusthalle Bern in Switzerland (2015), as well as the Continuity and Change:

Islamic Tradition in Contemporary Art at the Williamsburg Art and Historical Center in New York (2007).

Hala’s work became part of the permanent collection of LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) in 2024, and the

Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, IL, in 2023.

Hala moved from New York to Lebanon in 2019, and currently lives in the town of Ras El Metn, where she has

established The Saloua Raouda Choucair Foundation, which commemorates her mother’s art and legacy.