Sara Badr Schmidt (Lebanon, b.1968) The work of Sara Badr Schmidt defies neat categorisation. Working with an eclectic range of materials and processes, connected by an insistent return to the multiplicity of identity, and an equally strong care for the artisanal, for craft and for the hand, she delves into her intimate world with the precision of a surgeon, the tenderness of a parent. From where you begin, from your own journey, you can enter her world. In this mixed media exhibition at Saleh Barakat’s Agial Gallery, Sara Badr Schmidt presents We left home…but what is home. 

For Badr Schmidt, the quest for home is deeply personal, psychological, almost feral. Division seems rooted in her psyche. And yet in her insistent digging into the past, her work provides a document from the future, a reminder of the totality of such experience, the continuing effect of exile on the individual at every strata of their existence. Seen through the eyes of this prescient artist, place, belonging, identity, in all of their complexity, gain intimacy and individuality while at the same time speaking to broader social and cultural issues. 

This artist has a gift for allowing stories to unfold from every viewer, connecting the work of memory with that of tangible reality. Born in 1968 in Stockholm to Swedish and Lebanese parents, Sara grew up between Lebanon, Sweden, and France. In 1992 she graduated as the top student from the E.F.E.T. School of Graphic Arts in Paris, and began a remarkable career, establishing herself through exhibitions in Paris, Milan and Beirut, including such notable showcases as Art Paris and Parcours Saint-Germain. She has also made significant contributions to design, establishing the ground-breaking concept store Artishow in Lebanon, as an artistic director for the publication, Femme Magazine, and co-founder of the graphic design firm One-Off in Beirut. 

Sara has more recently incorporated the art of rug-making into her creative repertoire, creating custom-made rugs. These works are often developed as specific commissions, giving rise to one-off pieces or limited series. The combination of textile compositions, installations, paintings and textual works, are consciously translated in a poetic way, naturally encouraging the viewer to personal reflection.