- Olivia Brooks
- Sep 7
- 4 min read
Updated: Sep 12
An Interview with Melissa Chalhoub
Haley Laningham
Melissa Chalhoub, a versatile artist blending a background in cinema and visual art, graduated from Saint Joseph University in Beirut in 2014. Her commitment to facing global injustices not only in her national past, but also in Gaza, fuel the intensity of her pieces. With exhibitions spanning across international borders, Chalhoub captures her audience with her sometimes correctly disturbing figures. The eye of the viewer is torn between focusing on the whole of the image and its intricate linework, representing a certain despair and chaos of our global time with its host of gross injustices. Of her own work, Chalhoub says:
I like to focus on texture and contrast. Using scribbled lines, I chisel onto the paper with the mindset of a sculpture. Using the human body in its vaguest form, I like to study emotions and how they translate in body language and the interaction between figures. My work focuses on family, human intimacy, the feelings of loneliness, sadness, and isolation, and the concept being lost in this rapidly changing world.
Over the course of the interview, Chalhoub and I hone in on her influences, inspirations, and background. Please enjoy the words of this stirring and heartbreaking artist.
-Haley Laningham
See more of Chalhoub’s work here.
Haley Laningham: How would you broadly describe your artistic mission?
Melissa Chalhoub: I believe an artist’s mission is to reflect their time, their society’s pain, and what brings them relief. An artist is a part of society, not someone observing on the sidelines or a person portraying themselves as better than their own society.
HL: Who are your artistic influences?
MC: I love German Expressionism, Surrealism, and Industrialism. If I were to name three figures, I would say Picasso, David Lynch and Kafka.
HL: Can you describe how your upbringing and/or life experiences influenced your artistic mission?
MC: Living in Lebanon, a region that was forced into conflict for its geopolitical placement—from the Romans, to the Crusaders, and now the Zionist campaign on the region—we are bound to ask ourselves how that happened, why, and what we can do. As an artist and as a human of these native lands, all I can do is deal with this main contradiction and danger to our existence, and my art is one of those tools.
HL: I love the way your figures contain inexact depictions of the human face. They’re slightly rounder and weirder than a realistic face. Their eyes are so deep, yet blank in a way. What are you trying to achieve drawing the figures’ faces this way?
MC: It was never a conscious decision. I have been drawing these figures since I was a teen, and I love how people can project any identity onto them. I think it speaks to the universality of feelings and experiences. I think the expression of the eye encompasses all that the face or words could say. It renders it to its most primitive and vulnerable stage—a kind of poignant minimalism, which is probably why the eye is put in a prominent position.
HL: What set of emotions and/or event inspired “Shield,” the piece we’ve chosen for our cover?
MC: It was not a specific event—but the ongoing wars on Gaza. Before the genocide we have all been witnessing for the past twenty months, there was a war in 2022, and in 2021, and many others. Lebanon also has witnessed many wars; the scenes of Israeli bombs falling from the sky on unsuspecting people are images that we all grew up with watching. You see the huge explosions and people hiding behind the flimsiest things and parents trying to shield their children as if their body alone could protect them from these horrific tools of destruction. Another image that comes to mind is the killing of Muhammad al-Durrah in his father’s arms in 2000 during the intifada.
HL: Why do you prefer to use the medium you do?
MC: I mainly use ink as I find it the most expressive. I wanted something that could imitate pencil (a very primal tool) which is why I use dried-up ink pens—a tool without the problems that come from using pencil, whether the smudginess or how it reflects in the light. I find in the ink a medium that is very malleable and controlled, which is a great conduit for the fast and abrupt strokes I love to use in my drawings.
HL: The title “We Are Everyone We Have Ever Met” is stunning in of itself. What are you trying to achieve in this piece?
MC: I wanted to showcase a continuity and our connectivity as a human race. In a growing culture of selfishness and egocentricity, it is important to remind ourselves and everyone that no one exists alone. Neither biologically speaking, nor in the progress of thought and artistic movements—not as an artist, nor as a member of humanity. We become who we are because of the people we meet—the ones who inspire us and those who cross our path. We are a continuous amalgamation of all these humans who have crossed our path.
HL: Is there anything to which you’d like to direct our readers’ attention?
MC: I believe everything is political, and it is important to decide which role we want to play in this world. Not being political is a political decision in itself—not seeing and reflecting onto the world is also one. It’s important to ask ourselves what we stand for, what are our capabilities, and what we can do. What we do matters—whatever small, change is a continuous fight.
MELISSA CHALHOUB, a versatile artist blending cinema and visual art, graduated from Saint Joseph University in Beirut in 2014. Transitioning from directing experimental short films to illustration in 2015, her work explores emotion and storytelling through texture and contrast. Drawing inspiration from her cinematic background, Chalhoub infuses her artwork with compelling narratives and deep emotional resonance. Her technique, reminiscent of sculpting, brings texture and contrast to life on canvas, capturing the essence of human emotion and expression. Themes of family dynamics, human intimacy, and the complexity of emotion permeate Chalhoub's work, inviting viewers to contemplate the universal human experience. With exhibitions spanning across international borders, Melissa Chalhoub shares her unique perspective with audiences worldwide.
HALEY LANINGHAM is a PhD candidate in Poetry at Florida State University. She holds an MFA from the University of Oregon and was the previous Art Editor for Southeast Review.