Preface to the ninth edition: On Marwan Kassab-Bachi (1934-2016), 2017

Marwan Kassab-Bachi, one of the most prolific Arab painters, has never exhibited in the Beirut Museum of Art. Yet 23 of his drawings and paintings were found on the back of framed artworks in the museum’s storage. It remains unclear whether these were drawn by Marwan himself or by a friend, admirer, backer, critic or defamer.

Prologue, 2015

In 2017, The Louvre Abu Dhabi opened.  But the museum did not have enough objects to fill its display cases. This was expected all along, and the Paris Louvre had prepared 300 objects to travel to Abu Dhabi for the museum’s opening. 

Of the 300 objects, 22 were affected by the journey in very strange ways: the objects’ outline remained intact, but their façade (or skin) was that of another object.

​Unsure how to display the altered objects, a local carpenter was hired to design new vitrines.  Her proposed wooden cases are below.