Look Her in Her Eyes | Mounira Al Solh

Elyssa

For the artist Mounira Al Solh, Elyssa is more than just a character from an age-old tale. In her native Lebanon, she is remembered as the founder of Carthage: a courageous leader who guided her people towards a new future. This is a different portrayal from the story that has been told in Europe for centuries. From this perspective, Al Solh explores in this solo exhibition how stories change over time and take on new meanings.

Tapestries

A key starting point for this exploration is a remarkable series of seventeenth-century tapestries from the collection of the Valkhof Museum. These monumental tapestries, created at the time of the Treaty of Nijmegen, tell the story of Dido and Aeneas as it was known in Europe for centuries. However, not every part of the story has been preserved. Among other things, the final chapter, in which Dido dies, is missing. For Al Solh, it is precisely this part of the myth that is indispensable.

Mounira Al Solh

Through film, paintings, textiles and installations, Al Solh explores how stories take on new meaning time and again. In her work, she links an age-old myth with stories of migration, identity and power. For stories, just like people, travel across borders. And along the way, they change in form, meaning and ownership.