A Lebanese Fashion Design student at The Glasgow School of Art, Nour Daher, has used her Master’s collection to investigate her cultural background and raise awareness of Saloua Raouda Choucair, who is said to have been the first abstract artist in Lebanon.
Images:Saloua Choucair: self-portrait; Saloua Choucair Fractional Module, 1947-51 (Oil in Canvas); design by Nour Daher inspired by the work of Saloua Choucair
“Saloua Choucair, who died in 2017 aged 100, was an artist with an extensive body of work that was only discovered in the last decade or two in Lebanon but was still pretty much unrecognised globally until Tate Gallery staged a major retrospective of her work in 2013, which was the first time her work was ever taken this far outside Lebanon,”says Nour who like Saloua Choucair comes from Beirut.
“She was a remarkable woman who lived through very challenging times, including civil war, being a female artist in a male dominated art scene and fulfilling her obligations as a mother and a wife. Yet, she was still able to produce work which is really impressive, radical and very expressive of who she is as a person with multiple interests and fascinations,”
Through her former university department at the Lebanese American University, Nour was able to make contact with Saloua’s daughter, Hala who is also an acclaimed artist, and to visit Saloua’s studio earlier this year.
“It was a huge privilege to be able to visit Saloua’s home and studio and see not only paintings, but sculpture, furniture, jewellery, graphic material and even clothing that she had designed,” says Nour
“The inspirations for her work ranged from mathematics to poetry, the Islamic art that she experienced in Cairo and the abstract art that she encountered in Paris. Her use of structure, colour and form that developed from these several influences are very inspirational to me as a designer”
To develop her own visual language for her collection of “contemporary” designs, Nour started by taking photographs of Saloua’s work, particularly looking at the play of light and shadow which is a prominent component in Nour’s work. By layering fabrics her designs reflect not only way that the artist layered paint on her canvasses, but also the multitude of interests She and the artist share.
The four looks which Nour is showing at Graduate Degree Show use sheer fabrics to show through the different shades of colour used while the organic and geometric shapes informed an interesting approach toward the silhouettes in her collection.
“I hope that through seeing my collection at Graduate Degree Show more people will be inspired to discover the work of Saloua Choucair and explore my own aesthetic and visual language”
Collections by Nour Daher and the other designers on the Master of Fashion + Textiles Design programme are on show in the Reid Building at Graduate Degree Show from until 29 August 2019. Open daily: Mon – Thurs 10am – 8pm Sat – Sun 10am – 6pm. Entry free
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For further information, high resolution images and interviews contact
Images:Saloua Choucair: self-portrait; Saloua Choucair Fractional Module, 1947-51 (Oil in Canvas); design by Nour Daher inspired by the work of Saloua Choucair“Saloua Choucair, who died in 2017 aged 100, was an artist with an extensive body of work that was only discovered in the last decade or two in Lebanon but was still pretty much unrecognised globally until Tate Gallery staged a major retrospective of her work in 2013, which was the first time her work was ever taken this far outside Lebanon,”says Nour who like Saloua Choucair comes from Beirut.“She was a remarkable woman who lived through very challenging times, including civil war, being a female artist in a male dominated art scene and fulfilling her obligations as a mother and a wife. Yet, she was still able to produce work which is really impressive, radical and very expressive of who she is as a person with multiple interests and fascinations,”Through her former university department at the Lebanese American University, Nour was able to make contact with Saloua’s daughter, Hala who is also an acclaimed artist, and to visit Saloua’s studio earlier this year.“It was a huge privilege to be able to visit Saloua’s home and studio and see not only paintings, but sculpture, furniture, jewellery, graphic material and even clothing that she had designed,” says Nour“The inspirations for her work ranged from mathematics to poetry, the Islamic art that she experienced in Cairo and the abstract art that she encountered in Paris. Her use of structure, colour and form that developed from these several influences are very inspirational to me as a designer”To develop her own visual language for her collection of “contemporary” designs, Nour started by taking photographs of Saloua’s work, particularly looking at the play of light and shadow which is a prominent component in Nour’s work. By layering fabrics her designs reflect not only way that the artist layered paint on her canvasses, but also the multitude of interests She and the artist share.The four looks which Nour is showing at Graduate Degree Show use sheer fabrics to show through the different shades of colour used while the organic and geometric shapes informed an interesting approach toward the silhouettes in her collection.“I hope that through seeing my collection at Graduate Degree Show more people will be inspired to discover the work of Saloua Choucair and explore my own aesthetic and visual language”Collections by Nour Daher and the other designers on the Master of Fashion + Textiles Design programme are on show in the Reid Building at Graduate Degree Show from until 29 August 2019. Open daily: Mon – Thurs 10am – 8pm Sat – Sun 10am – 6pm. Entry freeEndsFor further information, high resolution images and interviews contact
