Curatorial notes
Bahia Shehab painted "I Will Dream" on a building, probably with house paint and brushes. It looks like a straightforward process, but it gets complicated when you start thinking about how public art exists in relation to the city. The horizontality of the bands of blue, turquoise and white is like a Rothko, but it's also like a flag, a kind of backdrop for the large white Arabic text floating over it. I am drawn to that crisp, white calligraphy, so full of intent, so graphic and clean. You know, I see connections with Barbara Kruger, another artist using words as a form of intervention. Ultimately, it is an open and generous gesture, an offering of potential and optimism painted directly onto the urban landscape. It reminds me that art is a continuous conversation across time, with endless room for new voices and perspectives.
