Intimate Trespasses, Bayan Kiwan

Exhibition Announcement

We are pleased to announce Bayan Kiwan’s first solo exhibition at Sfeir-Semler, presented in our downtown Beirut space.

The Artist

Bayan Kiwan (b. 1995, Amman; lives and works between New York and Amman) is a Jordanian painter of Palestinian origin. Her practice explores place, memory, and everyday life.

Exhibition Title

The exhibition takes its title from Intimate Transgressions, a large-scale painting measuring 178.5 × 349.5 cm.

The Central Work

Set in a Brooklyn apartment, the painting depicts moments of gathering among friends following demonstrations. These encounters unfold in a domestic setting.

The figures share a belief that another reality remains possible. As a result, the work reveals how political experience enters intimate space.

New Paintings

The exhibition brings together new paintings that continue Kiwan’s exploration of domestic interiors. In particular, she focuses on tenderness and proximity.

Bodies fold inward, faces soften, and eyes close. Hands rest on heads or cheeks. Meanwhile, these gestures are echoed by embraces and bodies lying side by side.

Touch and Care

Through touch, care becomes visible. It thus emerges as a vital force that offers refuge and consolation.

Color and Perspective

The paintings are rendered mainly in tones of red and pink. They capture moments of exhaustion within living rooms and bedrooms.

However, Kiwan often obscures the scenes through framing. Figures appear from behind, in profile, or only partially visible. Consequently, the viewer becomes an inadvertent witness.

Everyday Objects

Everyday details suggest a broader context. These include a spoon on a table, a neglected newspaper, a T-shirt, wilted flowers, or rumpled sheets.

Ceramic Works

A series of ceramic works completes the exhibition. First, Kiwan shapes and fires the clay.

She then paints faces, arms, or hands into its folds. During a second firing, heat softens the painted surfaces. As a result, contours blur and emotional presence intensifies.

Themes

Bayan Kiwan’s work celebrates love as a quiet and sustaining force. It allows one to endure grief and vulnerability.

Ultimately, the exhibition emphasizes care and togetherness. Ordinary spaces are transformed into places of refuge, revealing a previously unseen sense of immanence.

Education

Bayan Kiwan holds a BFA from the University of Jordan. She earned an MA in Art, Gender, and Sexuality focused on the Arab world from NYU Gallatin. She also holds an MFA from Hunter College, New York.