In this painting, Tamara Al-Samerraei pursues her recurring motif of dark objects begging to be found. A shrub, a pile of debris, a BBQ grill cover–forms precariously finding their place within an environment when no one is looking. Knavishly motionless, they seem to be about to undergo a mysterious transformation.

Born in Kuwait in 1977, Tamara Al-Samerraei is a painter who lives and works in Beirut. She received a BA in Fine Arts from the Lebanese American University in Beirut in 2002 and completed the inaugural year of the Home Workspace Program at Ashkal Alwan (2011-2012), Beirut. Her solo exhibitions include What Floats in Space, Marfa’ Projects, Beirut (2019); Let Me Stay a Little Longer, Marfa’ Projects, Beirut (2015-2016); Make Room for Me, Gypsum Gallery, Cairo (2014); Fleeting Fences (2011) and Something White (2008), Agial Art Gallery, Beirut.

She has participated in several group and duo exhibitions including Heavenly Beings: Neiter Human Nor Animal, Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova, + MSUM,Ljubljan (2018); The Clocks are Striking Thirteen, 21,39; Jeddah Home Beirut: Sounding the Neighbours, MAXXI museum, Rome (2017); Tamawuj-Sharjah Biennial13, Sharjah (2017); Play The Possum, Gypsum Gallery, Cairo (2016); Complicity, Sultan Gallery, Kuwait (2016); On Water, Rosemary and Mercury in Homeworks 7, Beirut (2015); 25 Ans De Creativite Arabe, Institut Du Monde Arabe, Paris (2012); All About Beirut, White Box, Munich (2010); Exposure, Beirut Art Center, Beirut; Radius of Art project, Fladernbunker, Kiel (2008) and ShoeBox, Dar Al Funoon, Kuwait (2007).