Biography
Yazan Halwani is an artist born in post-war Beirut, Lebanon where public spaces were lacking, and the lack of art infrastructure (e.g., museums, institutions, galleries, education) made art and design highly undemocratic and inaccessible for the public. His work focuses on identity.
Growing up in Beirut, public spaces were riddled with political propaganda, a remnant of the Civil War: large scale images of political leaders and banners with political quotes written in beautiful Arabic calligraphy. Both provoked and inspired, he turned himself to creating installations in these same public spaces to allow everyday people to reflect on their own identities and challenge the dominant narratives amidst a normalized highly sectarian post-war environment. His work has frequently been viral and been embraced as landmarks within the city.
Growing up in Beirut, public spaces were riddled with political propaganda, a remnant of the Civil War: large scale images of political leaders and banners with political quotes written in beautiful Arabic calligraphy. Both provoked and inspired, he turned himself to creating installations in these same public spaces to allow everyday people to reflect on their own identities and challenge the dominant narratives amidst a normalized highly sectarian post-war environment. His work has frequently been viral and been embraced as landmarks within the city.
His undergraduate degree from the American University of Beirut, and graduate degree from Harvard allowed him to study a range of topics that influence identity from philosophy, history, engineering, design, economy, business and public art. Today, his creative practice focuses on exploring identity all these lenses.
Yazan’s work has been featured in several international publications such as The New York Times, The Guardian, The Economist’s 1843. His work has been exhibited in several countries such as the USA, France, Germany, Tunisia, Ivory Coast, Lebanon, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Singapore. His artwork is in art collection around the world such as The Arab Word Institute (Paris, France), Barjeel art collection (Sharjah, UAE), KA collection (Beirut, Lebanon).
2019
Beyond - Philips gallery - London, United Kingdom
2018
The Urban Experience, Artual Gallery – Beirut, Lebanon
White Wall – Public art project by the French Institute for Culture in Beirut and the Goethe Institute Beirut – Beirut, Lebanon
2017
Untitled – Artual Gallery – Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire
8eme Jeux de la Francophonie – Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie – Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire (Gold Medalist)
Disobedience Prize – MIT Media Lab – Cambridge, USA
Stadt Wand Kunst – Public mural project in Mannheim, Germany
2016:
Untitled – Mark Hachem gallery – Beirut, Lebanon
Baladk – Public mural project - Amman, Jordan
2015:
Du Bronx Aux Rues Arabes - Arab World Institute – Paris, France
UrbanArt Biennale 2015 - Völklingen Ironworks UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site - Saarbrücken, Germany.