Tagreed Darghouth, From the series: "Gardens and Jungles", 10, 2023

Tagreed Darghouth is a Lebanese painter whose practice engages pressing social and political realities through a sustained and research-driven visual language. Her work reflects on structural forms of violence, contested identities and the shifting socio-cultural landscapes of Lebanon and the broader Middle East, often bringing into view how everyday experience intersects with histories of conflict, displacement and power. Across her practice, Darghouth connects lived realities with wider intellectual, cultural and historical reference points, articulating a rich, multifaceted engagement with contemporary life.

Born in Saida, Lebanon, in 1979, Darghouth completed diplomas in Painting and Art Education at the Lebanese University and the Lebanese Teachers Institution in 2000. That same year and the next, she participated in the Ayloul Summer Academy for young Arab artists at Darat al-Funun in Amman, led by the Syrian modernist Marwan Kassab Bashi, a formative influence on her early development. In 2002, she moved to Paris to study Space Art at the École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs, returning to Lebanon in 2003 and balancing teaching with studio practice until dedicating herself full-time to painting.

Darghouth’s work has been exhibited widely both regionally and internationally, in institutional and gallery contexts spanning the Middle East, Europe and North America. She has participated in major group presentations at the Institut du Monde Arabe (Paris), the Royal College of Art (London), Taymour Grahne Gallery (New York), and exhibitions in Buenos Aires, Istanbul, Dubai, Doha and beyond; her solo exhibitions have been held at institutions including Tabari Artspace (Dubai), Saleh Barakat Gallery (Beirut) and Contemporary Art Platform (Kuwait).

Darghouth has also been recognised with multiple awards, including the first prize at the cm3 competition at the Cité internationale Universitaire de Paris (2003) and the Boghossian Foundation Prize for Young Lebanese Artists (2012). Her work is held in significant public and private collections, including the Barjeel Art Foundation, Dalloul Art Foundation, and Institut du Monde Arabe.

Tagreed lives and works in the UAE.

EDUCATION
2003, Space Art, École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs (ENSAD), Paris, France
2000, Superior Studies, Painting and Sculpting, Lebanese University of Fine Art, Beirut, Lebanon; Diploma in Art Education, Teacher's Institution, Beirut, Lebanon
2000-2001, Ayloul's Summer Academy, workshop for young Arab artists at Darat al Funun, directed by the artist Marwan Kassab Bachi, Amman, Jordan

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2025, Ballots to Bullets, Gallery MISR, Cairo, Egypt
2024, He Who Gazes At The Sea; The Man and The Land, Saleh Barakat Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon

2023, Gardens and Jungles, Tabari Artspace, Dubai, UAE
2022, A City Undisguised; Beirut: No Home No Exile, Cromwell Place, London

2020, Toys and Trophies: From Zeus's Pandora to Barbie Doll, Tabari Artspace, Dubai, UAE
2019, Strange Fruit, Tabari Artspace, Dubai, UAE
2018, A Second Coming, BAR (Beirut Art Residency), Beirut, Lebanon
Analogy to Human Life, Saleh Barakat Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon
2016, Ain’t Nowhere to Hide, Contemporary Art Platform ( CAP Kuwait), Kuwait
2014, Vision Machines: Shall You See Me Better Now, Agial Art Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon
2013, Rehearsals, Agial Art Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon
2011, Canticle of Death, Agial Art Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon
2010, Fair & Lovely, Agial Art Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon
2008, Mirror, Mirror!, Agial Art Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon
2006, Falling Parts, Goethe Institute, Beirut, Lebanon
2004, Still Features, Zico House, Beirut, Lebanon

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2026, Same Air, Tabari Artspace, Dubai, UAE
2025, Fertile Dreams, Tabari Artspace, UAE
2021, Bodies That Matter, Berlin Art Lab, Berlin, Germany

2021, Lights of Lebanon, Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, France

2019, Ourouba/Arabicity, the Middle East Institute Art Gallery, Washington DC, US, curated by Rose Issa
Walking Through Walls, Gropius Bau Museum, Berlin, Germany

Out of Context, Saleh Barakat Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon

2018, Face Value, Saleh Barakat Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon

2017, Our Beloved Bodies II, Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE

100 Chefs d’Oeuvre de l’Art Moderne et Contemporain Arabe, La Collection Barjeel, Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, France

2016, Betsarof, Lebanese National Library, Beirut, Lebanon

2014, Thin Skin: Six Artists from Beirut, Taymour Grahn Gallery, New York, US

2013, Re-touch, New Paintings from Beirut, Forum for New Arab Art, Art-Lab, Berlin, Germany

L’insondable Surface, French Institute, Beirut, Lebanon

2012, Re-orientation II, Rose Issa Project, London, UK

2011, Subtitled: With Narratives from Lebanon, Royal College of Art, London, UK

Rebirth, Beirut Exhibition Center, Beirut, Lebanon

Residual, Maraya Art Centre, Al Qasba, Sharjah, UAE

2010, Mokhtarat Ministry of Culture and Education, Doha, Qatar

Zoom Contemporary Art Fair, Miami, Florida, USA

Connecting Heavens, Green Art Gallery, Dubai, UAE

10th Anniversary of Kasa Art Gallery, Kasa Galerie, Istanbul, Turkey

2008, Bos Laf, Kasa Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey

AIWA: Aley International Artists Workshop, Aley, Lebanon

2006, Attribute to Senghor, Downtown, Beirut, Lebanon

Arteclassica ,3era. Feria de Arte, Buenos Aires, Argentina

2004, El Bab, Theatre de Beyrouth, Beirut, Lebanon

2003, Cerf Volants Maison du Liban, CIUP, Paris, France

cm3, Cite Internationale Universitaire de Paris, Paris, France

2001, Four Artists, Zara Art Gallery, Amman, Jordan

Ayloul's Summer Academy, Darat al Funoun, Amman, Jordan

ART FAIRS

2025, Art Paris, Saleh Barakat Gallery, Paris, France

2024, Abu Dhabi Art, Tabari Artspace, UAE

2024, Art Dubai, Tabari Artspace, UAE
2023, Art Dubai, Saleh Barakat Gallery, Dubai, UAE

2023, Art Paris, Saleh Barakat Gallery, Paris, France

2022, Art Karlsruhe, Yvonne Hohner Contemporary, Karlsruhe, Germany

2021, Abu Dhabi Art Fair, UAE

2020, Art Dubai, Saleh Barakat Galley, Dubai, UAE

2017, 2018, Art Dubai, Agial Art Gallery, Dubai, UAE

2017, Beirut Art Fair, Agial Art Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon

2016, Art Dubai, Agial Art Gallery, Dubai, UAE

2015, Abu Dhabi Art fair, Agial Art Gallery, Abu Dhabi, UAE

2014, Singapore Art Fair, Lebanese Pavilion, Singapore

2014, Art Dubai, Agial Art Gallery, Dubai, UAE

2013, Beirut Art Fair, Agial Art Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon

2011, Art Dubai, Agial Art Gallery, Dubai, UAE

COLLECTIONS

Barjeel Art Foundation
Imago Mundi Collection
Dalloul Art Foundation
Institut du Monde Arabe

PRIZES
2012, Boghossian Foundation Prize for Young Lebanese Artists (painting)

2003, cm3 exhibition, Cité Internationale Universitaire De Paris, Paris, France (first prize)

2000, Ayloul's Summer Academy (exhibition), Darat al Funoun, Amman, Jordan (second prize)

SELECTED PRESS

2025, The Arab-Italian Connection: How This Boutique Art Hotel in Italy is Supporting Arab Talent, Vogue Arabia

2023, In Dubai, Artist Tagreed Darghouth Paints Her Own Version of War and Peace, Architectural Digest

2023, Exhibition of the Month: Gardens and Jungles, Tagreed Darghouth, Mojeh

2019, Harper's Bazaar, A Visit To Lebanese Artist Tagreed Darghouth's Mar Mikhael Studio In Beirut

2018, The National, Life and death and olive trees: Tagreed Darghouth on her biggest exhibition yet

2017, Financial Times, From war zone to haven: the view from Beirut

2016, Vogue, How Lebanese Artist Tagreed Darghouth Tackles Human Paradoxes

Exhibitions

For this highly anticipated solo exhibition, powerful female painter, Tagreed Darghouth has produced a body of work that responds to the militarisation of civil society. Inspired by Stephen Graham's ideas on warfare, political violence, and the transformation of cities by military and security imaginaries. Darghouth presents a thought-provoking body of work building upon her previous investigations into state surveillance and the profound effects of war on everyday life influenced by her personal experiences in Beirut, Lebanon.

The title of the exhibition draws from the controversial remarks made by Josep Borrell, the outspoken foreign policy chief of the European Union. Borrell described Europe as an idyllic "garden" of prosperity, juxtaposing it with the rest of the world, which he referred to as a "jungle." Darghouth challenges this outdated binary perception, suggesting that the traditional understanding of developed and developing nations has lost its relevance. Instead, she argues that new partitions, walls, borders, and divisions have emerged, creating a world that is neither safer nor more appealing than before.

Through a collection of acrylic paintings on canvas, ranging in size from smaller 29 x 21cm pieces to larger 3 x 3m works, Darghouth seeks to defy this new world order. Her paintings employ gestural impasto layers and depict landscapes, flowers, trees, and birds, all painted atop a camouflaged print on fabric or paper. By juxtaposing nature with camouflage, Darghouth engages in a process of deconstruction and resurrection, symbolising the resilience of the natural world. In some of her works, she incorporates icons like Ares, the Greek God of War, military helicopters, tanks, and toy soldiers, hinting at the performative masculinity and gamification associated with conflict.

Reflecting on her art as an act of resistance, Darghouth says