This article is sponsored by Galerie Cheriff Tabet

“When I was a kid, I worshiped my brother.  He was the genius of the family. At the age of 8, he was already illustrating children books! I admired him so much. I wanted to follow in his footsteps, but I didn’t think I was good enough. I was a pretty anxious and skinny kid.

So I started drawing in secret, mostly superheroes, in a reality where I was stronger, less fragile. I was fascinated by the fantastic world of Jerome Bosch. When I grew up, I started using humour to get accepted by my peers. In 11th grade, I used to draw caricatures of my teachers.

When my brother left to study Fine Arts in Paris, I decided it was time for me to express myself. With some friends, we started tagging the walls of Beirut. It was the end of the war, Beirut was in ruins, we wanted to inject some beauty into the city. This is when I realized for the first time the impact my illustrations could have, as anyone could see them.

I went on to study architecture at ALBA, and quickly became aware that I wanted to become a painter. I wanted to be able to express myself with no constraints, I wanted to shed the light on realities that I find absurd and that I would like Lebanese people to question. For example, why are the eyebrows of all the female presenters on TV not natural???

That’s the idea of my exhibition, “Ouga Ouga!”, where I highlight and make fun of the superficiality, of all the insecurities and complexes that simmer inside of us despite the appearances. If we can’t change the ridicule of our reality, why not at least make fun of it? “

Benoit Debbane, 45, will showcase his exhibition “Ouga Ouga!” at Galerie Cheriff Tabet, Burj Hammoud. Opening night:  June 11.