Mounira Al Solh

The Murex shell was discovered by the dog of Melqart, as he walked on the beach in Tyre, Lebanon. He bit on the shell, and as a result looked like he was bleeding from his mouth. Upon looking more carefully, Melqart discovered that it was not blood, but the snail inside the Murex shell made it look so. According to the myth, a nymph asked Melqart to make her a dress with that color.

The dye was greatly prized in antiquity because the color did not easily fade, but instead became brighter with weathering and sunlight. The Phoenicians created outside of their cities sites where they would capture and process the shell to colour fabrics with it. Thousands of shells were needed to color dye just a few centimeters of that highly prized Tyrian red. It is said that it smelled like garlic, even after washing it. Al Solh’s textile shows a hand-embroidered Murex shell that morphs into an abstract shape, mixed with found threads and organic fibers.