Afaf Zurayk

Afaf Zurayk (b. 1948) is a prize-winning multimedia Lebanese artist and published writer, born in Beirut into an academic family. Her artistic talent was evident early on, leading her parents to send her to art school. As a teenager, she also received private lessons from Lebanese artist Helen Khal, who had a major influence on her style. In 1970, Zurayk enrolled at the American University of Beirut (AUB), where she graduated with a BA in Fine Arts with Distinction. Two years later, she continued her studies in the United States, earning an MA in Islamic Art from Harvard University.

Zurayk’s art is deeply rooted in the impact of Lebanon’s civil war and other catastrophic events, including the Beirut Port explosion—reflecting not only the upheaval, torment, and trauma they brought, but also the surprising and welcome moments of resilience and positivity. “During the civil war in Lebanon, I experienced wrenching fear through the destruction of the life and the self that I knew,” she has said. “Yet, I was gifted with grace and love in the midst of overwhelming violence.”

Her work often raises probing questions that touch on human values, hopes, and fears—expressed with candor and directness on canvases of layered oil paint applied with a dry brush.

Nature has also played a key role in inspiring Zurayk’s writing, particularly her poetry, which frequently develops in parallel with her art. “I coupled painting with writing to express feelings of both agency and belonging. I shaped a new sense of self and began to appreciate meditative solitude as a way to till my ground creatively. The privilege of being in and with nature was restorative and generative,” she has said. “My poetry emerged from a wellspring of love, and I grew. Painting and writing in loving awe, I remain within, crossing those passages that connect us in kindness, gently.”