Beirut Design Week 2019

For the Beirut Design Week’s theme of Nostalgia, Milia Maroun collaborated with Paris based writer and artist Lamia Ziade using her iconic portrait of the celebrated singer Asmahan to illustrate her eponymous Kimabaya.

Amal Al-Atrash, better know by her stage name Asmahan, was a Syrian born singer and artist who dominated the levantine art scene throughout the 30’s and 40’s.

When the notion of the voiceless Arab female prevails in the conventional collective memory, Asmahan’s life story and controversial lifestyle up until her mysterious death makes her a symbol of the modern arab woman transcending time and history.

In fact, strong-voiced women have been and continue to be a pillar of Arabic music in all its forms. Milia Maroun’s collaboration with Lamia Ziade aims to remember and recognise the women at the forefront of national political and artistic identity.