‘Noor’ (نور) in Arabic, refers to light, radiance, luminescence. In the Middle East, ‘noor’ can also refer to ‘The Divine Light’ that guides wanderers on their travels. To usher in the festive season, Marie Jose Gallery is thrilled to present Noor, a pluridisciplinary exhibition featuring five artists and designers from Lebanon and the United Kingdom.

As per its ethos, Marie Jose Gallery strives to promote artists from Lebanon, the founder’s home country, and to place those artists in conversation with local talent. Noor proposes to discover three Lebanese artists: Charles Khoury, a seasoned artist known for his acrylics on jute; Sara Chaar, an emerging artist utilising abstraction to express her identity; and Nayla Kai Saroufim, whose whimsical and versatile sculptures pay homage to pop art and street art alike. 

With this exhibition, the gallery widens its scope and welcomes design within its walls for the very first time. Alongside the aforementioned trio of artists, visitors are invited to discover two British designers: the prodigious Piers Henry Phillips, whose ‘lucid mirrors’ attract and reflect light in distorted manners, as well as ceramic-extraordinaire Hannah Simpson, whose anthropomorphic lamps beam with life and luminosity. 

At the heart of Noor, visitors will find light. Whether it emanates metaphorically from Khoury and Chaar’s bright canvases, is projected physically from Simpson’s lamps, is reflected from Saroufim’s sculptures, or is absorbed by Phillips’ mood-capturing mirrors, light guides the visitor through the exhibition… and well beyond its realm.

Enfant Terrible Exhibitions