Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige

Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige were both born in Beirut, Lebanon in 1969. They collaborate as artists and filmmakers, creating thematic and formal links between photography, video, performance, installation, sculpture, and cinema. Over the last fifteen years, the duo has particularly focused on the fabrication of images andthe construction of imaginaries. Using personal or political elements to record stories that were stifled in prevailing history, Hadjithomas and Joreige explore the relationship between image and narrative. 

Their poignant, complex works are often intimate, established through conversations with various people they meet. Where sites have been transformed or demolished, particularly through war, Hadjithomas and Joreige's work provides a social memory for those affected, giving potency to the visible remnants. Applying a documentary approach to work that rewrites history raises questions about belief, fragmentation, transmission-bias, and who has the right to be the custodian of lapsed memories. Highlighting absence by documenting the tangible allows the artists to examine imaginary constructs and the contemporary corruption of image.

Hadjithomas and Joreige have created numerous photographic and video installations. Their artwork has been shown in many museums, biennales and art centers around the world. Selected solo exhibitions include: Messages with(out) a code, The Third Line, Dubai, UAE (2022) I Stared At Beauty So Much..., Frac Corse, Corsica, France (2020); On Scams, The Power Plant, Toronto, Canada (2019), Unconformities, Onassis Cultural Center, Fast Forward Festival, Athens, Greece (2018); Two suns in a sunset, IVAM, Valencia, Spain (2017); Se Souvenir de la Lumiere, Musée national Pablo Picasso, La Guerre et la Paix, Vallauris, France (2017); Still in need to Apologize..., Tranzitdisplay, Prague, Czech Republic (2017); Two Suns in a Sunset, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany (2016); Se souvenir de la lumière, Jeu de Paume, Paris, France (2016); Two Suns in a Sunset, Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE (2016); I must first apologize..., MIT LIST VISUAL ART CENTER, Boston, USA (2016); I must first apologise, HOME, Manchester, UK (2015); Je dois tout d’abord m’excuser…, Villa Arson, Nice, France (2014); The Lebanese Rocket Society, Contemporary Art Center of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia (2014); KHIAM, l’emploi du temps, 3bisf, Aix en Provence, France (2013); The Lebanese Rocket Society, A Tribute to Dreamers (Parts II, III, IV and V), CRG Gallery, New York, USA (2013); Aida, Save Me, Inivia, London, UK (2012); I want to See, Gasworks, Triangle Arts Trust, London, UK (2010).

They have also been included in prominent group exhibitions including The Circle Was a Point, Foundry, Dubai, UAE (2024); Under The Cold River Bed, Sharjah Biennale 15, Sharjah, UAE (2023); Perpetual Inventory, Volume 1: An Exercise in Looking, The Third Line, Dubai, UAE (2022); Reflections: contemporary art of the Middle East and North Africa, British Museum, London, UK (2021);Scratching the Surface, Hamburger Bahnhof, Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin, Germany (2021); You and I don't live on the same planet, 12thTaipei Biennial, Taiwan  (2020); Potential Worlds 2 : Eco-Fictions, Migros Museum, Zurich, Switzerland (2020); Le vent se lève, MAC VAL (Musée d’Art Contemporain du Val de Marne), Vitry, France (2020); The Time Complex, 1st Yerevan Biennial, Armenia (2020); Time, Forward!, V-A-C Zattere, Venice, Italy (2019); Toi qui chemines, il n’y a pas de chemin, Red Brick Art Museum, Beijing, China (2019);Connectivités, Mucem, Marseille, France (2019); Collecting Photography: From Daguerreotype to Digital, The Victoria & Albert Photography Centre, London, UK (2018); Prix Marcel Duchamp 2017 - On The Podium (Nominees exhibition), Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France  (2017); The Human Condition, The Haunted House, Ekaterina Cultural Foundation, Moscow, Russia (2017); Home Beirut, Sounding Neighbours, MAXXI National Museum of XXI Century Arts, Rome, Italy (2017); Keimena Project, Documenta 14, Athens, Greece (2017); But a Storm Is Blowing from Paradise, Solomon R. Guggenheim, New York, USA (2016); Répétition, Fondation Boghossian, Villa Empain, Bruxelles, Belgium (2016); Let's Talk About the Weather: Art and Ecology in a Time of Crisis, Sursock Museum, Beirut, Lebanon (2016); Electronic Superhighway, Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK (2016); Common Grounds, Villa Stuck, Munich, Germany (2015); All the World’s Futures, 56th Venice Biennale, Italy (2015);Territoire d’affects, Beirut Exhibition Center, Lebanon, Beirut, Lebanon(2015); Lest the Two Seas Meet, Museum of Modern Art in Warsow, Poland (2015); Notre Histoire, Centre Pompidou/musée national d’Art moderne, Paris, France (2014); View From Inside, Fotofest, 15e International Biennial of Photography, Houston, USA (2014); Songs of Loss and Songs of Love: Lee Nan-Young and Oum Kulthoum, Gwanju Museum of Art, South Korea; Terms and Conditions, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore (2013); Light from the Middle East, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK (2013); Vues d’en Haut, Centre Pompidou-Metz, France (2013).

Their work is part of important public and private collections such as British Museum (London), Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris), Fond national d’art contemporain (France), MCA Chicago, Museum of Modern Art (Paris), Sharjah Art Foundation (UAE), Solomon R Guggenheim Museum (New York), and Victoria & Albert Museum (London).

They live and work between Beirut and Paris.