Location: United Kingdom
Roula Sorour is a multidisciplinary British Lebanese artist who grew up in Lebanon . Working at the intersection between seeing and hearing, she mixes paintings, drawings, graphics, sound bites and her own compositions, to create paintings and audio visuals reminiscent of our erratic volatile and unstable world.
In 2011 her short video @_rAb received an Honorable mention from LICC (London International Creative Competition) and was shortlisted in Driven Creativity.
Roula's works have been shown in Beirut(Galerie Rochane),New York(Mark Shilen Gallery) ,LA (Hammer Museum), London(The Strand Gallery and the Chelsea Club), Paris(Ofr. Librairie, Galerie) ,Berlin (janinebeangallery), Turkey(Dolmabahce) ,The Netherlands(Made in Arnhem Invites ).
In a period of enviromental crisis one might at first sight think this work is about the environment, pollution and our oceans , the disruption of the natural cycle in nature …
All seasons looking the same , morphing into one, living in a permanent winter or eternal summer , how sustainable is that in the the long run? However I only drew my inspiration from the power of nature in order to approach a more insidious form of power , that of the gatekeepers.
From Cerber to the modern age ones, gatekeepers have always existed, and are everywhere.
They come in different shapes forms and colors,can be visible or transparent , and keep evolving! They belong to different worlds from the digital to the cultural and everything in between .
Like sharks they decide who is to be made visible and who is to disappear…
Being an artist I’ve strongly felt the presence of the Gatekeepers in the Artworld.So much so that i dedicated a large scale photo to their power! Funny thing I recently came across a New York Times article
“At Art Basel, a Powerful Jury Controls the Market” which confirmed my intuition about their very own existence.
“The Gatekeepers - Inkjet Print on Fine Art Photo Paper - 283x76 cm Ed.1/3 - 2015”
