Mounira Al Solh Challenging Traditional Depictions of Women in Mythology at the 60th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, entitled ‘Stranieri Ovunque – Foreigners Everywhere’ and curated by Adriano Pedrosa.
Pavilion of Lebanon, A Dance with her Myth. 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. Photo by: Andrea Avezzù. Courtesy of La Biennale di Venezia.
Mounira Al Solh’s installation “A Dance with her Myth” at the Pavilion of Lebanon offers a contemporary reinterpretation of the myth of Europa, addressing issues of gender equality and the fluidity of identity. Through a rich multimedia approach, she weaves together elements like drawings, paintings, sculptures, embroideries, and video to challenge traditional depictions of women in mythology and reframe them as empowered figures. Central to her work is a boat, symbolising both connection and passage, constructed using sustainable methods and filled with materials reflecting Lebanon’s ecological and societal struggles. By reimagining Phoenician myths in the context of a collapsing Lebanon, Al Solh creates a symbolic journey of emancipation, exploring themes of resilience, cultural identity, and the ongoing fight for gender equality. Her playful and poetic approach invites viewers to rethink narratives entrenched in patriarchal systems and offers a vision for a more liberated and inclusive future.
Pavilion of Lebanon, A Dance with her Myth. 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. Photo by: Andrea Avezzù. Courtesy of La Biennale di Venezia.
ART AFRICA: Your installation A Dance with her Myth at the Pavilion of Lebanon engages with the myth of Europa to explore contemporary issues women face. How do you use multimedia elements such as drawings, paintings, sculptures, embroideries, and videos to reinterpret this myth and address gender equality?
Mounira Al Solh: I wanted to create a boat at the heart of the installation to connect all the elements. Following Phoenician methods, I worked with a fascinating family in south Lebanon to re-make the vessel. Since cedars have almost vanished, I didn’t use cedar wood to protect the remaining trees in Lebanon. Instead, I used fruit and street trees to make boats. Like a skeleton, I left the boat unfinished to inspire imagination and stories through it. A place where many untold stories can pass through. I filled it with plastic water bottles often found in the sea as garbage, as well as fishing metal cages, which, in my childhood, we used to catch fish. The latter are being used less and less today. Occasionally exploding dynamite is still used today to catch fish in Lebanon, where the fishermen’s lives are precarious and unregulated. For the boat, I handmade the sail and stitched on it patterns; the sail also became the screen for the film. The film was shot in Lebanon using non-professional actors, friends and family. Together, we reenacted scenes from Phoenician myths and known stories. It was also an excellent opportunity to visit and shoot in outstanding locations, such as Tyre, Byblos, and the Cedar Bio Natural Reserve in Shouf, among other places. I also made drawings as notes for the vast history and elements found in museums about the broad Phoenician history, as well as paintings whereby Europa carries Zeus. Europa carrying Zeus contrasts the numerous representations where she’s usually seen as a woman victim or object, carried by Zeus passively.
The myth of Europa has been reinterpreted over centuries, often reflecting the prevailing cultural norms and attitudes towards women. How does your approach challenge traditional interpretations of the myth and promote a new narrative of female empowerment and resilience?
From Rembrandt to Rubens, many have reinterpreted that myth. There was a time when it came to fashion, and it also fit a specific Orientalist depiction. Next to that, in Lebanon, for example, at the National Museum, there is a Roman mosaic where we see Europa carried away by Zeus. All these were, for me, a starting point to change the course of the depiction. I amusingly painted Europa carrying Zeus, also, carrying their children, and even, turning her back on us. As if she’s preparing for exile, with a suitcase, to underline that she’s the one who is taking the decision, that she’s not a passive object. In the film, there are some suppositions about what might have happened, in one of them, I imagine that she kissed him first even. Adding playfulness and humour to this Greek tragedy, written by male authors about a Lebanese Phoenician princess.
Pavilion of Lebanon, A Dance with her Myth. 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. Photo by: Andrea Avezzù. Courtesy of La Biennale di Venezia.
Your exhibition highlights the rich cultural heritage of Lebanon, including its Phoenician roots and mythical narratives. How do you weave Phoenician culture and mythology elements into your contemporary artistic practice, and what significance does this hold for Lebanese identity?
There were times when the Lebanese wanted to prove their national identity, such as after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and after the 1967 war. Some thought that we are Phoenicians thus, we are not Arabs. A similar phenomenon happened in Egypt when people wanted to put the history of the Pharaohs at the forefront of their identity. It was in the air, a sort of an Orientalist view. It is not from that perspective that I wanted to work with Phoenician myths. I am a mixture of all these cultures, and I am, at the same time, none of them at all. I am just who I am. I was born speaking and loving the Arabic language, and the works are all annotated and written in Arabic. I also include the Phoenician letters playfully, but not because I think I am Phoenician and not Arab. At the same time, it is beautiful to see how the Lebanese think nostalgically about the Phoenicians, and working with these myths needs no explanation, as everybody knows what we’re talking about. We were all brought up and exposed to their significant stories. But it is for me precisely those stories that I wanted to revisit from my contemporary point of view, from a collapsing Lebanon, and from an ecologically sick atmosphere, in the hope we can learn so that we can plan for and dream of a better place. There was a need to revisit history, as it is inspired by all the disasters we’ve been going through in Lebanon. This revisiting history compelled me to find ancient links and weave ancient myths into our current reality to imagine a more interesting exit, a way out of the disasters! Even if it means, for now, we can only imagine such a reality!
Pavilion of Lebanon, A Dance with her Myth. 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. Photo by: Andrea Avezzù. Courtesy of La Biennale di Venezia.
Through A Dance with her Myth, you invite viewers to embark on a symbolic journey of emancipation and gender equality. How does the installation challenge gender norms and stereotypes, and what message does it convey about the ongoing struggle for gender equality in contemporary society?
It is again in this mental and artistic realm that we can start dreaming, also as women who suffer from inequality. For example, during the Lebanese revolution, women were at the forefront and were so brave to stand up and confront! Yet, there remains much to do in terms of women’s rights. But this doesn’t mean that men have to feel threatened. They also need to be free from the current system. In Lebanon there is a high rate of suicide amid men, as perhaps some can’t bear the box they’re put in. We have to learn together to reshuffle all those patriarchal patterns that aren’t helping anyone evolve. In the installation, I change the stories using a rather poetical language and sometimes humour, as I feel it doesn’t help to take an imposing approach. These are suggestions and invitations for a better way to narrate stories, which otherwise remain in the patriarchal box, in a freezer, despite having no electricity in Lebanon! We should instead melt all those fixed notions and remodel them playfully and temporarily step by step. And also, we have to avoid creating new unchangeable models. We must be aware of the fast changes our societies undergo due to wars, exile, global warming and social media impact.
The exhibition will be on view until the 24th of November, 2024.
