LAWHA Digital Platform

LAWHA (لوحة, "painting" or "canvas" in Arabic) is a research project that investigates the trajectories of Lebanon's artists and their works since the country's independence from France in 1943, with a particular focus on the period from the 1950s to the 1990s.

Art history and the global canon have largely centred on Europe and North America. LAWHA aims to help decentre them by developing new methods for relating artistic production to its context. These methods are meant as a model for revisiting art histories in places where institutionalised local art histories have largely been absent.

The project is funded by the European Research Council, led by Nadia von Maltzahn and hosted by the Orient-Institut of Beirut.