Salam – Shalom

How can we speak about peace? And how can we speak of peace in the Middle East, a region marked by long-standing tensions and still-open wounds? Can art offer an answer, or a space to reflect dialogue? This exhibition brings together three artists from Israel, Lebanon and Syria, whose journeys and sensitivities illuminate this essential theme. Mira Maylor, an artist born in Tel Aviv, works primarily with glass, which she combines with wood, steel or light. Her large-scale works are shown in public spaces both internationally in Israel. For her, glass represents antimatter, a spiritual counterpoint to wood and metal, and symbolizes fragility and purity. Nabih Yammine, originally from the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon, came to Switzerland at sixteen with a student scholarship. After a lifelong teaching career at the college of Stans, he turned to painting – trees on paper and painted stones - as a gesture to preserve memory. In 1988, he founded Solidarité Liban-Suisse (SLS), rooting his commitment to peace in Saint Charbel, a Maronite priest from Lebanon venerated by both Christians and Muslims. Salam Ahmad, a Syrian Kurdish philosophy teacher in Aleppo, arrived in Switzerland in 2014 as a refugee. Barred from formal art studies due to his Kurdish identity, he trained in philosophy and psychology while taking painting lessons. His work consists mainly of portraits inspired by people from his homeland, often focusing on women. Their deep gazes reflect a profound dignity. In bringing their works together in this exhibition, today is an attempt, through art, to approach the theme of peace.