A Conversation with Lebanese Artist Mirella Salamé
Mirella Salamé, “Sehnsucht,” photo documenting a performance art piece made in 2017, part of “radical: choices & consequences,” at the French Institute in Beirut, curated in collaboration with Haven for Artists. The materials were soil, seeds, sprouts, flowers, water and watering can, presence, participation of visitor, and time. The artist was buried in the bed of earth with seeds, sprouts and flowers for the duration of the opening (5h+) with eyes closed, opening them while taking a deep breath each time watered, image courtesy of and copyright Mirella Salamé
This interview was a dream come true for Co-Editor Sarah Reeder, who has been a fan of Mirella Salamé’s artwork and creative philosophy for years. Worthwhile Magazine is very grateful to Salamé for generously agreeing to participate in this conversation and share her perspective with our readership.
Mirella Salamé is a multi-disciplinary artist whose practice includes performance art, installation art, writing, and painting, often incorporating natural earth pigments, found and reclaimed materials, and her own body. Her artist statement declares “Poetic and radical, her artwork is made in bonding with the natural, engaging our senses and tapping into our early belonging.”
Artist Mirella Salamé, image courtesy of and copyright Mirella Salamé
Salamé received her master’s degree from the Ecole Cantonale d’Art du Valais in Switzerland and has received multiple honors such as the Installation Prize at the Modern and Contemporary Art Museum in Lebanon and the Excellency Prize from the University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Switzerland. Her work has been exhibited widely to an international audience, most recently at Latela Curatorial in Washington, DC, KAF Gallery in Beirut, Lebanon, and Gallery Tom Christofferson in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Based in Beirut, Lebanon, Salamé is a vocal advocate for the Lebanese art community and the dire situation they are facing given the current terrible living conditions in Lebanon, using her social media platforms to educate her followers and introduce them to other Lebanese artists. It is an honor to have the opportunity to feature her artwork and amplify her message about how the world can help the creative community enduring the extremely hard situation in Lebanon.
The Conversation
Sarah Reeder (SR): To start with, I want to begin by asking how are you doing? Thanks to your writings on Instagram, I’m now aware of the major challenges the people of Lebanon are currently facing. What is your daily life like now enduring these struggles? How are these conditions impacting your artwork?
Mirella Salamé (MS): Thank you for having me and for your attention to what is going on in Lebanon. Life isn’t the same for anyone anymore here. Sooner or later this system had to collapse, as it is a failure on all levels, and it has to die. But this is a very old & brutal monster, and it is not going to die easily. Its decay is affecting society’s basic needs, of course, but at least its true face shows now, for those who were blindly following and believing in it. I hope this is a phase of transition, and I do believe these are highly transitional times, worldwide, but the transition is not going to happen overnight, there is a lot to clean up and heal first. Personally, I try not to feed the collapse much: the lack of material needs and the restrictions, I deal with them as superficially as possible. I deal with them, I do not have any other choice anyway, but I try not to let them get to my core. On the other hand, I go as deeply as possible with what feeds my spirit, now more than ever. That is not to turn a blind eye or bypass what is going on, but that is also a conscious choice, and a form of both resistance & protection, for me to be able to survive here. I am a highly sensitive person and I need a lot of rest, to be, and to create. I already deal with PTSD symptoms, and have a chronic & painful illness in my arms. In the recent years I understood that boundaries are the most essential thing for my healing journey. My parents’ generation as well as mine lived through wars... I was born during the civil war, and have childhood memories of running under bombs and hiding underground, and last year Beirut’s explosion only brought panic and nightmares… so my nervous system is already overwhelmed at this point in my life from personal & collective events. Now the darker the world gets, the more I seek beauty that feeds my heart. This is also a lesson one can learn from “the dark night of the soul,” when we go through a dark tunnel, we must grab tools of light, and these could be a paintbrush, a pen, an instrument, a practice, a book, a herbal medicine bottle, seeds, etc. In other words, these are the times when we must turn to art and earth medicine, inside the dark tunnel, these are the tools that we both fight with, and heal with, and which can carry us to the other side. I also hold on to what cannot be affected, life in the natural world goes on anyway: a bird song, a sunrise, the scent of a plant, the colors of a moth, the touch of earth & moss, spirit, dreams… no one can rule, nor package and sell these things. And these are the most real “things” for me, these are my basic needs, which I happen to appreciate and adore even more now. Music, herbal allies, ritual, kindness, love, and Art, are also essential for me (in both receiving and offering them), they feed me, and save me, and for that I am deeply grateful.
Mirella Salamé, earth pigments on recycled paper, image courtesy of and copyright Mirella Salamé
““Now the darker the world gets, the more I seek beauty that feeds my heart. This is also a lesson one can learn from “the dark night of the soul,” when we go through a dark tunnel, we must grab tools of light, and these could be a paintbrush, a pen, an instrument, a practice, a book, a herbal medicine bottle, seeds, etc. In other words, these are the times when we must turn to art and earth medicine, inside the dark tunnel, these are the tools that we both fight with, and heal with, and which can carry us to the other side.””
SR: Speaking from my own personal experience, I was so grateful you are sharing with the outside world about the current conditions because while I read extensively about the explosion in Beirut in August 2020, I had no idea about the current collapse of the power grid, shortages of medicine, food, and water, and the many other humanitarian catastrophes the people of Lebanon are suffering from. We are so honored you are willing to use your precious time and resources to have this conversation with us at the magazine to amplify your message to our readership in the international community. Is there anything you’d like to share about the current conditions in Lebanon that you want the world to be aware of?
Mirella Salamé, “Tears and Seeds,” plant and earth pigments on found paper, image courtesy of and copyright Mirella Salamé
MS: The most disastrous economic collapse, shortage and even non-existence of basic and urgent needs, the peak of corruption of the ruling elite, that’s been on their seats for over 35 years now. I believe some non-mainstream or non-biased sources shed light on the subject in an up-to-date way and would do a much better job at sharing what is going on than I would, such as @megaphonenews, @sarayafi, @darajmediaenglish, @leb.historian, @the961, @lebanontimes and @legal.agenda
SR: I know many of our readers will want to know how they can help. You have shared some excellent suggestions already online and I encourage our readers to check your highlight “Beirut creatives” on your Instagram account, but do you have any thoughts you’d like to share in this interview for action people can take to help the Lebanese creative community?
MS: One of my artist friends once told me that we just need to be heard, I feel that it could be frustrating that artists’ voices are not reaching or are gaslit. The struggle is real. And a lot of artists are utterly exhausted. Also here, most galleries are interested in “works that sell,” works that could be decorative, but not necessarily in works that speak to the soul, or that have certain ethics, or that are out of the usual box. I think we always have a choice in life in all areas; for those interested in art or looking for any creative work, it would be helpful to consciously choose to work with/support an artist who lives in harsh or underprivileged situations, such as in Lebanon currently. For those who are on social media, supporting by sharing the work or reaching out to the artist can also be helpful. For example, when I simply shared the profiles of some creatives in Beirut in my stories, many have messaged me to say that they have been contacted by foreigners for either commissions or to purchase a work, which is such a relief for artists who are trying to cover their monthly expenses, especially now with the inflation of the lira.
Mirella Salamé, earth pigments on recycled paper, image courtesy of and copyright Mirella Salamé
SR: For individuals who may not be in a position where they can help financially, are there other ways like sharing or amplifying Lebanese artists that can have a direct positive impact?
Mirella Salamé, earth pigments on recycled paper, image courtesy of and copyright Mirella Salamé
MS: I think the question is broad as it really depends on each artist’s practice and preferences, and I can’t tell how each one individually would like to be supported. Also let me clarify that we are not all in the same box. From my knowledge, some artists are already privileged to live to a certain extent off-the-grid, on their land, not as much affected by the struggles, others could be well-known names who have made their way into the mainstream market, and some others are already well-off. The remaining are the “underground” artists or creatives who are struggling to make their way through or to pay the bills, and these are the ones who need support. Support doesn’t always have to be financial, of course. Depending on who it is coming from, it can be by believing in the work, showing interest in it, or in the artist, holding space for them, especially if the artist isn’t feeling motivated, or is feeling stuck, down, etc. which is often the case for many now. The issue is not only if their work is being sold or not, though that is important for artists who depend on their artwork for a living, the issue first and foremost for many is also whether they can still create or not and if they have the energy and space to do so, mentally, emotionally, and physically... because as reality is becoming more and more stressful and challenging, an artist can give up, and it’s important to remember that 1- artwork is essential work in all its forms especially now, and 2- some art practices can be healing, for both the artist and the “viewer.” One can also maybe introduce the artist’s work to a gallery, or suggest a residency, or propose a project, depending on each artist’s practice. Another way I could think of is if someone has services to offer, such as mental health support or a healing-related offering. Finally, social media is not the world out there, and I do believe we need to find community and supportive ways outside the political structure of big tech (which I plan to work on here), however, it is a very helpful tool that we can use consciously, while being careful not to be entrapped in it… which has proved itself to be effective in important political situations, such as amplifying Palestinian voices, or raising funds after the Beirut blast. For artists who use it as a portfolio, it opens a window for them to countries outside Lebanon, where the audience isn’t necessarily of a certain social class/country attending a gallery, but rather reaching anyone anywhere, in the comfort of their home, where their eyes and inspiration are being fed with art, somehow for free. One doesn’t necessarily have to own a piece, but feasting on art daily, even if digitally, is also a privilege, which we may have taken for granted. However, on both sides, the artist’s offering and the viewer’s reception, feed each other. That being said, engaging with the artist’s content and sharing it, are tools that help their work gain more visibility on the platform if they partially depend on it.
SR: One of the aspects that initially drew me to your artistic vision was how you incorporate earth pigments, natural materials, and your own body into your creations. Did you have a specific journey that led you to focus on these materials?
Mirella Salamé, “The heart remembers,” natural sculpture, 2020, part of a series, earth pigment on jacaranda pod, image courtesy of and copyright Mirella Salamé
MS: I want to work with what resonates with me, literally. I want to work with what life offers, mainly, rather than what the capital market offers. What earth and her cycles offer, not what the static packages impose. Decolonizing my art practice, my choices and my thoughts is essentially conscious, reviving remembrance, and that is healing. I also love to explore self-sufficiency, how one could be an artist without necessarily depending on the capital’s products, while also reviving the value of found or natural objects… I feel the relationship I have with the natural world is in itself healing, for both myself and the earth, because it is a reciprocal relationship. I also love the aesthetics of the natural, its textures, sounds and colors, the way it breathes, the way it changes, the way it decays, it is appealing and poetic to me, it is never a soul-less object. I have furthermore been called an ecofeminist as I work with and for the earth, because I identify with her on many levels, and acknowledge my belonging to her, rather than to the system, as well as recognizing her as Goddess, as Mother, as healer, who, just like women, has been subject to suppression & exploitation since millions of years and even more under the patriarchal-religious-capitalist system. For me it is clear that I have to make a choice of picking a side, and each choice has its story and consequences. So even if I do not mean it, my personal choice is political, ethical, and spiritual, which are all related.
Artist Mirella Salamé, image courtesy of and copyright Mirella Salamé
SR: Do you have a particular process for identifying and selecting rocks and other earth materials that will be used in your artwork? Do you like to experiment and work intuitively, or is there a specific sort of earth material you search for?
MS: I mainly work intuitively. I do not search for anything in particular, I go out there, and see what life offers today.
SR: I really loved your work “my body, the earth,” exhibited by Latela Curatorial and the way in which your artistic vision brought the agency back to the female body. I’ve always been bothered by the work of Yves Klein and how he appropriated female forms in his “Anthropometries” paintings where women covered in blue paint he named after himself (“International Klein Blue”) impressed their bodies on a canvas. I adored the subversion of how you took back the power in this process as the artist using her own body as a creative tool with full agency, and instead of coating yourself with a pigment named after a man, you instead utilized the red earth pigment. It felt like a collaboration with nature. Do you have any thoughts you’d like to share about those works?
MS: I think it’s interesting that Yves Klein’s work was brought up as a response to this work of mine, even though it was rather an attack. Although initially my intention didn’t include Klein’s work, this notion of comparison added an important aspect to my piece. Throughout the conversation on Latela Curatorial’s platform, and between the curator Jessica Duby & I, we concluded what you just stated, furthermore the idea of objectifying or using women's bodies versus reclaiming ownership of a woman’s body. A white male European figure’s blue, versus an earth red, via my woman’s body, which is a color I used repetitively to express the relationship between women’s bodies and that of the earth, the iron-rich red ochre, and the womb’s blood, that are & look so similar. (Please excuse my gender terminology if it seems general, it does not mean to exclude nor include any human, bleeding or not bleeding, with or without breasts or womb. My artwork is my personal expression through my own body.)
Mirella Salamé, “My Body, The Earth,” exhibited at Latela Curatorial, image courtesy of and copyright Mirella Salamé
Image courtesy of and copyright Mirella Salamé
SR: Your gorgeous cats make a lot of cameos in your studio pictures! Speaking as the devoted companion of a very wise dog, do you feel like your feline studio partners are creative collaborators and inspirations in your artistic process?
MS: I’ve always loved felines in general. They’re wise, wild, full of wonder, and relatively independent. My cat mates and I have lived together for several years now, so we’ve grown accustomed to each other’s needs, boundaries, and rhythms. They are so calm and loving. I love to observe them, how they sit, how they behave, it seems everything they do is magical, as if they know something no one else knows. And when they sleep, they emanate a comforting and serene feeling… I also sense that they cleanse energy. They may not inspire my artistic process directly, but their presence is essential, and I am grateful for them.
Mirella Salamé, photographs from "you", natural installation (soil, mycelium web, time, eventually mushrooms, plastic foil, water, participation of visitor), 2018
This artwork by Mirella Salamé was showing and growing at the gallery of Epeka Slovenia as part of the resulting works of her residency at Guest Room Maribor, Slovenia in 2018. The artist writes that “you” was “in a dimly lit, hidden room in the gallery, in a relatively cold and humid temperature. It was my utmost pleasure collaborating with mycelium, visitors were invited to pick the mushrooms that grew from it throughout the length of the exhibition, and we made a mushroom salad at the end!” Image courtesy of and copyright Mirella Salamé
Mirella Salamé, Photographs from "you", natural installation (soil, mycelium web, time, eventually mushrooms, plastic foil, water, participation of visitor), 2018
Mirella Salamé, Photographs from "you", natural installation (soil, mycelium web, time, eventually mushrooms, plastic foil, water, participation of visitor), 2018
SR: What creative questions especially excite you in your work? When I study your artwork, I feel like I am watching a natural tapestry that was torn long ago to finally be mended back together again.
Mirella Salamé, “You were told to fear the serpent because you are not to come into touch with the truth,” earth pigments on recycled paper, image courtesy of and copyright Mirella Salamé
MS: My questions, reflections, and focus are on re-weaving belonging, dreams and collective unconscious, matter and non-matter, decay and its regenerative aspect, earth and healing, mycelium and memory… all of these are interconnected, and not knowing all the links and everything about all of them right now is part of what keeps me going on, I am both obsessed and in love with these matters. I find it beautiful that you say my work looks like a “natural tapestry that was torn long ago to finally be mended back together again,” as I believe a lot of my work is a reclamation of what was lost, and is still being lost, suppressed, or marginalized.
SR: Do you have any thoughts about what role you feel nature plays in your creative process?
Mirella Salamé, “The bird that is going to bring me the raining cloud,” earth pigments on recycled paper, image courtesy of and copyright Mirella Salamé
MS: It is everything. Rather than role, for me it is source. When we say nature, I don’t only hear the natural world of flora and fauna, I do not paint natural sceneries. Of course, the wonderful and ever-fascinating natural world in all its colors, textures, behavior, and sounds is inspiring, but for me, Nature implies our human nature, before being gentrified, our relationship to the earth, and how we are working to heal it, the nature of our dreams, and that of our feelings, plant intelligence, mycelia and interconnectedness, how new life can sprout from cracks, whether ours or the city’s… The system still works hard to brainwash us since we are children, and make us forget that we come from and into earth, thus it is crucial that we remember and reclaim that, and connect back to Nature.
Mirella Salamé, “Inner spring does come even when it is not spring,” earth and plant pigments and watercolors on recycled wood, image courtesy of and copyright Mirella Salamé
SR: Do you have any dream projects you hope to create in the future? What people or materials might be involved?
MS: My dream project is my dream life. I want to be able to live a self-sufficient, more or less off-the-grid life, in a small house or cabin, with animals I take care of, and most importantly my garden, where I can tend the earth, rest, work, and also offer some healing space for others, plus workshops. I am still preparing all that I can to be able to make it happen.
Mirella Salamé, “I want to sleep inside the blue wolf,” earth pigments on recycled paper, image courtesy of and copyright Mirella Salamé
SR: How can people purchase your artwork or contact you for commissions?
MS: My email is mirellasalameh@gmail.com, I still haven’t been able to make my website.
Mirella Salamé, “She smells her heart after the rain,” earth pigments on recycled paper, image courtesy of and copyright Mirella Salamé
We extend our deepest gratitude to Mirella Salamé for graciously sharing her valuable perspective and unique creative vision with us and our readers. She can be found online at:
https://www.instagram.com/fertilepalms/
https://mirellasalame.tumblr.com/
© Worthwhile Magazine 2021