Ramez G. Chagoury Faculty of Architecture, Arts & Design (FAAD) at Notre Dame University-Louaize (NDU) Assistant Professor Noel Nasr is exhibiting a collection of photographs alongside painter Afaf Zurayk and architect Rami Saab. Nasr’s collection is titled, “Shifting Lights,” and will remain on display until January 2, 2018, at Beit Beirut (daily from 11:00 a.m. till 8:00 p.m. and on Sundays from noon till 6:00 p.m.). The exhibition features distinct social and artistic changes and upheavals, which remain connected by a vision for peace and honest introspection.
“Shifting Lights” explores the intricate relationship between a painter (Zurayk) and a photographer (Nasr), as expressed through the vision of an architect (Saab). These three artists invite art lovers to become participants in a conversation that walk us around their experiences of instability in Lebanon and the region.
The expression “Shifting lights” identifies that no two moments are the same, and that there is no such thing as constant light. It is a work that contains its own contradictions and hangs in the balance between darkness and light. Nasr said, “I am challenging the camera to enter the depth of the painting, the negative and the positive, the recto and the verso, the light and the dark.”
Nasr is a photographer and the coordinator of the Photography Program at NDU since 2007. Focusing on the power of the photograph that can play a major role in shaping how humanity perceives and responds to the world around us. His work is mostly enthused from his daily life experiences and is often for therapeutic motives.
He graduated with an M.A. in Photography from the University of Kent, England, in 2006. In 2011 he completed an MFA in Photography at the University of Ulster, Belfast. Both were awarded with distinction. His recent body of work “out of order” has been nominated for the Prix Pictet 2012. His work featured in various journals, books, and exhibitions. His work has been on display since 2010 at the Salon D’automne of Sursock’s Museum.
“Shifting Lights” is free of charge and open to all ages. We look forward to seeing you there, where we will experience an intimate conversation between painting, photograph, and surrounding space.