Artist Spotlight: Ali Cha’aban
“Don’t forget where you came from,” is a phrase many know well. For Ali Cha’aban, these words from his mother echoed more loudly as he grew older. The Lebanese born non-artist found himself and his work coming back to their roots in recent years, reflecting both his westernized upbringing and Arab identity.
As a self-proclaimed pop-culture-analyst-cum-philosopher with a background in anthropology, Cha’aban does not create purely for the aesthetic, but rather to inspire dialogue and explore the modern Arab identity.
In 2017 his first solo exhibition featured "The Broken Dream": Persian rugs embroidered with characters from the Marvel Universe. The works, self-portraits of sorts, represent a dichotomy between the artist’s heritage with a prominent fixture in many Arab homes and Western superheroes.
“The aesthetics behind it are timeless and are still heavy with nostalgia. It has its own culture and sub-culture, from design to typography, and even to its censorship.”
Ali Cha’aban in collaboration with Saudi Arabian designer Mohammed Khoja of Hindamme, The Arabic Dream series featuring Hindamme’s Fall 2017 collection, 2017. Photo by Rayan Nawawi.
Aside from identity, Cha’aban addresses a host of socio-cultural ideas including our relationship with time and technology.
In “They Don’t Make Nostalgia Like They Used To,” he deconstructs the millennial desire to reinvent the past instead of creating a new unique future, revealing the darker side of sentimentality. His work “I Fought The Internet and the Internet Won,” reveals a concept anyone with a Twitter account can relate to at one point or another in their self-publishing career.
Comic strips are not his only source of inspiration. Ali also points to Egyptian cinema as having a heavy influence on his creations. Censorship being something he is familiar with.
Cha’aban’s work is often satirical but he masterfully strikes the balance between eyebrow-raising while avoiding offence.
