Seta Manoukian: Painting in Levitation
Overview
Born in Lebanon in 1945, Seta Manoukian is a painter. Her early drawings reveal a sense of composition, a strong artistic hand and an original talent. She was teaching at Lebanese University when the Civil War began in 1975. After 10 years of war in Lebanon she had to flee, to LA defeated by war, where she still lives today, as a Buddhist nun.
This publication looks back at Manoukian’s work, focusing on the 70s and 80s periods of her practice. It includes essays by Gregory Buchakjian, Kristine Khouri and Aline Manoukian.
Co-published as part of the Saradar Collection x Kaph Books series.
About the Authors
Gregory Buchakjian
Gregory Buchakjian is an art historian and interdisciplinary visual artist. He lives and works in Beirut where he was born in 1971. PhD graduate at Sorbonne Université, he is director of the School of Visual Arts and Associate Professor at Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts (ALBA). Buchakjian’s practice is based on narrative, archive and archeology. Investigating on urban turmoil, dereliction and heritage engendered his PhD dissertation, the subsequent book, Abandoned Dwellings, A History of Beirut (Beirut, Kaph Books: 2018, Valerie Cachard, ed.) and the solo exhibitions Abandoned Dwellings, Display of Systems (Beirut, Sursock Museum, 2018 curated by Karina El Helou) and Abandoned Dwellings of Beirut (Brussels, Villa Empain, 2019). In 2018, he was showcased in the first national pavilion of Lebanon at the Venice Architecture Biennale and he contributed to the Works on Paper accompanying Karina El Helou's Cycles of Collapsing Progress exhibition in Oscar Nimeyer's Tripoli International Fair. In 2019 he conceived the installation Where do filmmakers go? for the 2nd Alba Cinema encounters, "Filming in Times of War", which he co-organized. In 2021, he created with Valérie Cachard and Sary Moussa the video Agenda 1979 at the invitation of the Opera National du Rhin, and the installation Hercules and Omphale for the exhibition How will it end? (Villa Empain, Brussels, in partnership with Centre Pompidou), based on a painting that was damaged by the blast of the 4th of August 2020 he attributed to Artemisia Gentileschi. In 2022, he premiered at Fotofocus Biennial Cincinnati his long-term Record of an Ordinary Life and intervened with Temporary art Platform in the Roman Temple of Hosn Niha. Member of the advisory committee of the Saradar Collection, he took part in many juries including Sursock Museum Salon d’Automne (2009), Boghossian Prize (2012), Beirut Art Center’s Exposure (2013), Beirut Art Residency (2017) and Arab Documentary Photography Program (2019).
Kristine Khouri
Kristine Khouri is an independent researcher and writer whose interests focus on the history of arts circulation and infrastructure in the Arab world, and archival practices and dissemination. Together with Rasha Salti, she has co-curated Past Disquiet: Narratives and Ghosts of the International Art Exhibition for Palestine, 1978 shown at the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (2015), Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (2016), and at the Museo de la Solidaridad Salvador Allende, Santiago (2018). Khouri also curated The Founding Years (1969–1973): A selection of works from the Sultan Gallery Archives at the Sultan Gallery, Kuwait (2012). Kristine has contributed to numerous publications and was a section editor for the publication accompanying the exhibition Time is Out of Joint (Sharjah Art Foundation, 2016). She is a member of the Arab Image Foundation, Beirut.
Aline Manoukian
Aline Manoukian studied the history of photography in California. In 1983, she covered the Lebanese conflict, as a photojournalist for the Lebanese daily newspaper the Daily Star. In 1985, she joined Reuters news agency and later became head of the photo department, managing a group of staff and stringers, while covering the Lebanese conflict. In 1989, she moved to Paris, where she continued her career as a photographer and later as a picture editor. From 2010 to 2013, she was president of the French photo-editors' association ANI. In 2017, she became director of the newly established non-profit organisation Beirut Center of Photography, dedicated to promoting quality photography in Lebanon.
Technical Details
- Publication Date:
- Thursday, March 7, 2019
- Language:
- English / Arabic
- Format:
- Hardcover
- Dimensions:
- 21x27cm
- Weight:
- 1019g
- ISBN:
- 9786148035104
- Number of Pages:
- 168
- Publisher:
- Kaph Books
- Categories:
- The Arts
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