A Little House in Hamra

this is so inspiring to me. i love the details of how an artist works. i look at everything: the picture peeping behind the sketch clipped onto the easel, the masking tape left over from her last painting, the drippings on the wall, and the painting itself, incomplete yet ethereally beautiful

A few days ago, I visited the Beirut-based artist Tamara Al-Samerraei in her studio, which she shares with artist Najah Taher. It’s situated in a culture-rich area of Hamra off the Beiruti high street. When I got there, I heard live music playing in a nearby street and  Olivia Newton-John’s Let’s Get Physical blaring from the insides of a tall building. Tamara’s place, however, felt like an oasis in the hodge-podge bustle around me. The Ottoman-era building which houses the two artists’ studios/office would have seemed out of place on this street if it weren’t for the trees around it serving as a gentle buffer between new and old, modern and beautiful.

As soon as I walked in, I devoured the place with my camera. Cross the bridge for more photos of Tamara and Najah’s little eden.