Biography

“My work ques­tions the pro­grammed social reac­tions facing taboos. It explores the rela­tion­ship of: one­self to others; illu­sion and desire; cul­tural fears and anx­i­eties repressed in the com­plex­i­ties and para­doxes of social con­ven­tions. The sphere of inti­macy is a starting point that allows the pas­sage of the sin­gular to the uni­versal. The woman’s body is taken hostage in the trap of reli­gion, pol­i­tics and society,” writes Syrian artist Laila Muraywid.

Born in Damascus, Laila Muraywid (1956) graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Damascus University, and continued her higher education at the École Nationale Supérieure Des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. Muraywid creates sculptures, jewellery and photography, articulating themes of female marginality, fragility, desire, freedom, objectification and even violence. In many of her photographic works, the female figures are partly revealed and yet stay hidden. The photographs’ lights and shadows are dramatically contrasted in black and white or nostalgic sepia tones and have an intimate or sensual nature.

Laila Muraywid has shown her work at the Kennedy Center, Washington DC; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington and Museum of Decorative Arts, Paris, among others. Her work is in the collections of the British Museum, London; Galliera Museum, Paris; Institut du monde Arabe, Paris; Al Mansouria Foundation, Jeddah; the Jordan National Museum of Fine Arts; Khalid Shoman Foundation, Amman; Dalloul Art Foundation, Beirut and the Musée Caudresien des Dentelles et Broderies as well as in private collections around the world.