A note from a viewer by Amelia Maltby

Art captures corners of time and experience. It captures love and it captures suffering. 

A gallery filled with Basbous’ work, holds all of the above, but most significantly a sense of belonging.

A stranger and a friend can find comfort within the safe space of his work and the Bloom gallery.

An artist of many forms, he has brought the streets of Lebanon and many cities, to the walls of our gallery. Over the last few weeks, they have become his stage and a platform for people’s voices to be heard. 

As a viewer, I was drawn to Basbous’ Celluloids. A face of faces personalising moments of history and time. The piece has layers of mediums and meanings: the peelings of the posters signifying a lifetime of stories, a collage of paths that have come and gone. 

Standing in front of Celluloids, you are placed on the worn streets where many have found their words. Basbous’ catches the writing on the walls and has read between the lines. 

The decay of colours in Basbous’ work symbolises that there are cracks in everything, but the artist knows that’s how the light gets in.