Biography

Lebanese painter Tagreed Darghouth operates as a socio-cultural historian, with a practice that focuses on the myriad cultural changes in her country. Through her figurative paintings, she observes contentious subjects ranging from war, cosmetic surgery and the impacts that foreign, domestic workers have on Lebanese mother-child relationships. Commenting on the widespread obsession with cosmetic surgery amongst Lebanese youth, Darghouth’s portrait series, Mirror Mirror features a number of plastic surgery patients at various stages of healing after reducing the arch of their noses. Swollen and disfigured, these patients, both women and men, appear injured and abused when in reality their wounds are voluntary. The artist highlights the trauma involved in physically slicing away past cultural connections in favour of new ones perceived as favourable. Darghouth earned a degree in art education and studied fine arts at the Lebanese University in Beirut, as well as studying in Paris at École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs.