Balsam Abo Zour (b. 1982, Lebanon) is a multimedia visual artist based in the USA. Her practice spans oil painting, ceramics, printmaking, video, and fabrics, engaging themes of disappearance, cultural memory, monuments, and public space, often through guerrilla interventions. She holds a BFA and MFA in Fine Arts, with a specialization in printmaking, from ALBA (Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts), where she received the Alexis Boutros Award. Her work has been exhibited internationally in Lebanon, the Netherlands, France, and the United States, and received a jury special mention at the Sursock Museum in 2018. She completed a residency at Ashkal Alwan (2014–2015) and was granted a multi-year studio residency at the same institution. Her recent work has turned increasingly toward ceramic sculpture and textiles.
www.balsamabozour.com
www.instagram.com/balsamabozour
Moshtaha مُشتهى (The Desired)
When the body weakened, the tools became limited. That is when I held the needle to crochet. My excitement to engage with the idea of Unparallel overlapped with my condition, and that overlap is what triggered this piece into being. Repetition became labor, a way of expressing something working inside my body. I did not set out with a meaning. I began working, and only after did I understand what I was making, Moshtaha مشتهى – (The Desired).