ARTWORKS
![The Garden of Desires 1](https://iterarte.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/7f9b052d-d625-4e50-b648-fef0ed096509-l.jpg)
Marwan Sahmarani
NIDHI KHURANA
In this episode during a visit to his Beirut studio, Marwan Sahmarani discusses with Founder Tamara Chalabi his artistic practice; what and who inspires him; […]
Iliodora Margellos.
Ilio (in French, by childhood friends).
Healing.
Hot Stone Cooking.
Coffee.
Siwa.
One of many favourites that now comes to mind is Ugo Rondinone’s “the sun” (2017), which is made out of gilded bronze.
‘The Unbearable Lightness of Being’ by Milan Kundera
‘You just got to let go!’, is a favourite motto I learned from Columbia University photography professor Thomas Roma.
The temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari and all that its beauty represents, how it has survived despite repeated efforts of succeeding rulers following Queen Hatshepsut’s death to erase memory of her rule.
Another favourite is the Fondation Beyeler in Riehen that exists since 1997 thanks to Ernst Beyeler and Renzo Piano where nature finds pure harmony with the manmade in utmost subtlety.
The present, life with my children.
Equidistant access to mountains and the sea. Grounding energy from ancient ruins. The constant flow of international travellers.
I try to think as a minimalist when it comes to treasuring objects, particularly in the last few years since my father’s passing. To me, this effort feels like a liberating exercise of aligning life values in relation to people and environments one chooses to be surrounded with.
Listen to yourself and give up trying to make things perfect to please other people. Such a waste of time and energy.
Meditation.
Cerulean if I had to pick one, but truly all colours can be favourites because for me every colour has a place at any given point in time.
Anything sharp.
Looks tidy at first glance. What it truly is when you take a closer look: an organised mess.
The only way for me to make it through this life.
Giving shape to a feeling generated by a memorable experience and then letting it go.
Finding an aquarium box and filling it with leeches to create an installation (‘Greek Ministry of Finance’, 2013) for a group show celebrating 100 years of ready-made.
My daughters’ direct comments when looking at my works.
Precise, implicit, and everything in between.
Completing a computer drawing for a gallery project while breastfeeding my second daughter and supervising my first daughter’s online schooling session during the 2021 Greek lockdown.
Creating an illustrated story cloth book in collaboration with my daughter, inspired by Louise Bourgeois’ fabric book ‘ODE A L’OUBLI’.
Somewhere afloat, everywhere and nowhere at the same time.