Federalism of the Body

Art District, a gallery and studio on Gouraud Street in Gemmayzeh, Beirut, will show Federalism of the Body (فدرالية الجسد), a solo exhibition by the Lebanese artist Rawad Ghattas. It runs from 5 to 27 November 2026, with an opening on Wednesday 4 November from 6pm to 8pm. The exhibition poster reproduces a detail of a painting by Ghattas. A standing figure, worked in browns, ochres and plum, rises against a broad field of green, and the weave of the canvas shows through the paint.

The gallery presents the exhibition as a reflection on the body as a place of liberation, contemplation and resistance at a time of war and uncertainty. Female figures carry the work. Through them, Ghattas turns to questions of authority, healing and the search for balance. The gallery's text ends on a hope: that repairing the body might also open a route to renewal shared by everyone.

Ghattas was born in 1984 in a rural community. He holds a BA in Fine Arts. The gallery places his painting between Abstract Expressionism and Modern Realism. Nature and the people around him were his first subject and remain a constant one. He also draws on literature, philosophy and his own experience, and he treats art as a way to record, communicate and prompt change rather than as decoration.

Two earlier solo exhibitions took place in Beirut. The first, Faceless, opened at The LT Gallery in Mar Mikhael in May 2023 and showed disfigured portraits of ordinary people from his neighbourhood, rooted in Lebanon's years of war. Cyclopath followed at Galerie Cheriff Tabet in Achrafieh from January to February 2025; its title joins the words cycle and path. Art District is open from Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 6pm.