Wall painting and surface finishing are central to Chafa Ghaddar’s practice. She explores the use of fresco as a contemporary mode of making, as well as other techniques, and works equally with murals, painting, drawing, photography, and mixed media.
The artist executes site-specific and public artworks, and has participated in solo and group exhibitions in Beirut, Dubai, New York, Brussels, and Verona. Her latest was a solo show at Maraya Art Center, Sharjah. In 2022, Ghaddar was commissioned to produce a site-specific work for the 16th Lyon Biennale, Manifesto of Fragility, curated by Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath. She has been awarded several artist fellowships and residencies, including the Tashkeel Studio Critical Practice Program in 2018/2019 (with a solo exhibition), the Salama Emerging Artist Fellowship (SEAF, 2018), and the artist-in-residence program at the Villa Empain (Brussels, 2015), which also awarded her the Boghossian Art Prize for painting in 2014. Her work is in the collections of the Boghossian Art Foundation (Brussels), Tashkeel Art Foundation (UAE), and Fondation Saradar (Lebanon).
Ghaddar graduated from Académie Libanaise des Beaux Arts (ALBA), where she earned her Bachelor’s in Fine Arts degree in 2007 and a Master’s in Visual Arts in 2009. In 2012, she attended an intensive course in fresco and traditional painting techniques in Florence, Italy, an experience that continues to inform her practice today. In 2024 she completed a 6-month teaching artist fellowship awarded by DCT.
Ghaddar has been developing a teaching practice for the last five years and has been conducting lessons across different art institutions in the UAE alongside NYU Abu Dhabi as well Istituto Marangoni, Dubai.
CHAFA GHADDAR ON FRESCO
"Fresco matures twice. In its first stage, it is a work of construction: surfaces are initiated, visuals are painted, the artist is active and the medium becomes solid. In its second stage, the work manifests itself through its own degradation: the decay of the skin, the absence of the artist and the resistance of what remains.
Through frescoes I explore the manifestation of time on surfaces. Historical gesture appears in conversation with the present. Traces are evoked or retained, then investigated. Temporalities clash. I explore the paradox of a medium that can be timeless and vulnerable at once. I combine it with other techniques, particularly to process the idea of trace and fragmentation of time and space. I contest its immaculate historicity to suggest new boundaries and territories. I relate to the sensuality of its surfaces that encapsulate every gesture and every error. I see it as a living material, constantly subject to growth. Fresco allows me to pierce an ecosystem of consistencies and paradoxes, and make them mine".
EDUCATION
2007, BA in Fine Arts, ALBA, Académie Libanaise des Beaux Arts, Beirut
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024, Your Sun That Kept Setting, Maraya Art Centre, Sharjah
2023, Beneath Latent Skies, Tabari Artspace, UAE
2021, Cacti in a Daydream, Galerie Tanit hors-les-murs, Beirut
2019-2020, Recesses, Tashkeel Studios and Galleries, Dubai
2018, The Visit, Galerie Tanit, Beirut
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025, The Power of Intention (Just as a Talisman), Villa Cramer, Brera District, Milan
2024, In Real TIme, NYU Abu Dhabi
2021, HOW WILL IT END? Fondation Boghossian, Brussels, curated by Alicia Knock and Louma Salame
2021, I AM ONE ACQUAINTED WITH THE NIGHT, Studio La Citta, Verona, Italy
2018, Made in Tashkeel, Dubai
2017, Feminites Plurielles, Galerie Tanit, Beirut
2016, City and City, the Arnold and Sheila Aronson Galleries, New York (curated by Natasha Marie Llorens)
2015, L’espace de la feuille, Galerie Tanit, Beirut (curated by Clémence Cottard and Marc Mouarkech)
2014, Nostalgic Imagery, Galerie Janine Rubeiz, Beirut (curated by Nadine Majdalani Bekdache and BAKS/art concepts)
Journey through our Heritage, Beirut Exhibition Centre (curated by Janine Maamari)
2011, Beirut Past and Present, Art Lounge and Kaslik University, Beirut (curated by Yasmine Chemaly)
2010, Space of crime, village of Maaser el Chouf, Lebanon (curated by Ghada Hage)
2009, Tout un chacun, VIeme Jeux de la Francophonie, Unesco, Beirut (curated by Ghada Hage)
Badger I, UN évenement autour de l’image, in a factory in Bourj Hammoud, Beirut (curated by Ghada Hage)
2012, Exposure 2012, a juried group exhibition at Beirut Art Centre, Beirut, Jury: Amanda Abi Khalil (curator), Gilbert Hage (artist), Jannane al-Ani (artist), Khalil Rabah (artist) and the board of Beirut Art Center
COMMISSIONS
2023, I Am Still Learning, tile mural, Safa Public Library, Dubai (Commissioned by Art Dubai, curated by Amanda Abi Khalil, supported by Tashkeel and DCAA)
2021, The Fifth Month, fresco mural, Mar Mikhael, Beirut
2017–2023, Permanent Public Artwork, Art Dubai A.I.R. Programme in collaboration with Dubai Culture and Tashkeel, Al Safa Public Library (in progress)
2014, Breath is a Sculpture, assisting Giuseppe Penone with site-specific mural Propagazione, Beirut Art Center
2011–ongoing, Frescoes, Murals and Surface Interventions in over 25 private spaces and residences
SPECIAL PROJECTS
2024, Gucci Art Program, Mall of the Emirates, Dubai
2020, KJCHAPTERVII, backdrop painting with fashion designer Krikor Jabotian, Beirut
2017, Strata, fresco mural with A Hypothetical Office and Zuleika Penniman, Design Days Dubai
2016, Reincarnation, backdrop painting with Krikor Jabotian, Beirut
2012, On Fleeting Grounds, photography collective, Galerie Janine Rubeiz, Beirut
2010, Visuals of a City in Flux, photography collective, UNESCO, Beirut
ART FAIRS
2024, Abu Dhabi Art, UAE
Art Dubai, UAE
2023, Abu Dhabi Art, UAE
2022, MENART FAIR Paris- Galerie Tanit Beirut/Munich
2021, MENART FAIR Paris- Une histoire de Bleu, Galerie Tanit Beirut/Munich
2018, Beirut Art Fair, Galerie Tanit Beirut/Munich
2018, Art Dubai, Galerie Tanit Beirut/Munich- Booth B5
BIENNALES
2022, Commissioned to be part of the 16th Lyon Biennale “Manifesto of fragility” curated by Sam Bardaouil and Till Felrath
COLLECTIONS
Public: Boghossian Foundation (Brussels), Tashkeel Foundation (Dubai), Fondation Saradar (Beirut)
Corporate: Byblos Bank Headquarters, Beirut
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS & PRESS
2025, Lebanese Artist Chafa Ghaddar Dives Deep Into the Vulnerability of Walls, Architectural Digest
2025, The 11 Best Things to Do in Dubai in April, Architectural Digest
2024, The span of a day. Lebanese artist Chafa Ghaddar elevates the fresco technique to conceptual highs, Hadara Magazine
2024, Gucci’s boutique in Mall of the Emirates reopens with a newly reimagined space, Gucci
2023, The Power of Storytelling, FEMMEFEST
2023, Textural Intimacies: Skin as Surface, Nadine Khalil
2022, In Conversation, Musée Gadagne, Lyon
2020, A Lexicon in Celebration of Recesses, Jill Magi
2020, Recesses, Kevin Jones
2020, Blue Was a Revolution: Ongoing Notes Towards Fresco
2020, The Diary of an Artist in Interesting Times, Selections Magazine
2019, Féminités Plurielles, Galerie Tanit
2018, The Residues of Elsewhere, Kevin Jones
2018, Le WAW: A Wondrous Visit from Chafa Ghaddar
2017, Art Dubai Blog: Q&A with A.I.R. Dubai 2017 Artist
2017, Art Dubai Blog: A.I.R. Dubai 2017
2016, Absent Beirut: Reflections on Reflections, Ibraaz, Natasha Marie Llorens
2016, Apres l’Alba- Academie Libanaise des Beaux Arts, Beirut
2013, Journey through our Heritage, Beirut Exhibition Center
2012, Exposure 2012, Beirut Art Center
RESIDENCIES AND AWARDS
2024, Teaching Artist Fellowship, Manarat Al Saadiyat, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Fresco public commission, Al Safa Library, Dubai, UAE
2014, awarded the Boghossian Art Prize for Painting
2007, Scholarship, ENSBA, Paris (October-November)
2015, Boghossian Art Foundation, Brussels, (October-November)
2007, La Corbiere Village Nomade, Switzerland (July)
PROFESSIONAL TRAINING
2023–2024, Teaching Artist Fellowship, Art Studio, Abu Dhabi
2022–2023, Nominated for SEAF (Salama Bint Hamdan Emerging Artist Fellowship)
2018–2019, Critical Practice Programme, Tashkeel Studio, Dubai