Shawki Youssef

Youssef Shawki was born in Beirut in 1973, he studied fine art and intercultural mediation. These combined interests feed into his work, which explores conditions of Lebanese contemporary society and their effects on human beings. Not limiting himself to painting and drawing, Youssef works with various media, including video, performance and text. 

Youssef’s process is also rooted in painting the bodily and unconscious experience linked to ego, desire and social expression. Distorted limbs and body parts often appear fragmented and caught between torture and decay. Reflecting both theoretical discourse and study of social trauma, Youssef’s work taps into delicate individual stories of vulnerability and fear.