{"id":18975,"date":"2026-05-25T18:33:53","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T15:33:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/al-rawiya.com\/?p=18975"},"modified":"2026-05-26T13:32:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T10:32:24","slug":"fann-w-fenjein-mariam-ajami","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/al-rawiya.com\/ar\/fann-w-fenjein-mariam-ajami\/","title":{"rendered":"Fann w Fenjein: Mariam Ajami"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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From the Familiar to the Fantastical<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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In Mariam Ajami\u2019<\/a>s world, the ordinary rarely remains ordinary for long. A familiar object, a fragment of memory, a photograph, a color, or a gesture can become the beginning of another reality\u2014one shaped by imagination, instinct, humor, and escape.<\/em><\/p>

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Working across photography, collage, and multimedia, Mariam builds dreamlike compositions that feel both intimate and surreal. Her practice is rooted in transformation: taking what already exists and reassembling it into something strange, playful, and emotionally charged. Influenced by Surrealism and Dada, her work does not simply reject reality; it bends it, softens it, and sometimes laughs at its absurdity.<\/em><\/p>

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There is nostalgia in her images, but it is never static. Growing up in Lebanon, Mariam draws from personal memory as much as from a broader cultural atmosphere: music, colors, styling, textures, and visual codes that carry traces of place and identity. Yet her work resists being pinned down. It invites viewers into a space without rigid rules, where childhood curiosity returns, where everyday scenes become portals, and where imagination offers a way to survive, question, and reimagine the world around us.<\/em><\/p>

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In this conversation, Mariam reflects on the beginnings of her collage practice, the role of memory and play in her visual language, and the quiet magic of transforming the familiar into something entirely new.<\/em><\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section><\/div>

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– Stephani Moukhaiber<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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Photos courtesy of Mariam Ajami<\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Your work feels deeply personal and imaginative at the same time. For someone encountering your art for the first time, how would you describe the world you create through your work, and the person behind it?<\/strong><\/p>

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The world I create through my work is my personal escape, it\u2019s a reflection of how I see things. It\u2019s a place without rules, where my imagination takes over and I can explore freely. It allows me to be playful and experimental, and to reconnect with my childlike sense of curiosity.<\/p>

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You blend photography, collage, and multimedia to create dreamlike compositions. What first drew you to collage as a medium, and how did it become central to your practice?<\/strong><\/p>

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I was first drawn to collage during my university years, where I discovered Linder Sterling and Lola Dupree. I was fascinated by the idea of completely transforming an image by combining it with another, creating something entirely new from what already exists. It felt almost magical, the way a new narrative could emerge through that process, and that\u2019s when I really understood the power of visual communication.<\/p>

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Many of your pieces feel like fragments of memories or imagined worlds. Do your works usually begin with a story or idea in mind, or do the narratives emerge as you assemble <\/strong>the images?<\/strong><\/p>

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It\u2019s usually a balance of both. I work in a very instinctive, almost automatic way, letting things flow naturally. My practice is deeply rooted in Surrealism, and a very big part of that is allowing your subconscious to speak. At the same time, I like to revisit each piece repeatedly, refining it to ensure the story and narrative I\u2019m trying to convey comes through.<\/p>

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Nostalgia seems to be a strong thread in your work. Are the memories you explore mainly personal, or do they connect to a broader collective memory tied to Lebanon?<\/strong><\/p>

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I grew up in Lebanon, so my memories are deeply intertwined with that place. Much of the symbolism in my work is very personal , it reflects my own experiences and identity , but it\u2019s also shaped by Lebanese culture, whether through music, styling, colors, prints, or ideas. For me, it\u2019s about finding a balance between these influences and thoughtfully choosing which elements best serve each project.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Your art often transforms everyday scenes or objects into something surreal. What draws you to these ordinary moments as a starting point for your work?<\/strong><\/p>

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I find something magical in transforming what might seem like mundane objects and giving them a new life. It\u2019s almost like turning a pumpkin into a carriage, it\u2019s a shift that relies entirely on imagination. For me, it\u2019s about looking at something long enough and moving it beyond what it is, and asking what other reality it could become. We were taught as kids to work with what\u2019s around us and turn it into something whimsical, so it felt natural to carry that into my practice.<\/p>

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There is a sense of playfulness and imagination in many of your compositions. How <\/strong>important is experimentation or humor in the way you approach visual storytelling?<\/strong><\/p>

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It\u2019s essential to my work, much of it is rooted in escapism. I\u2019m deeply influenced by the Surrealism and Dada movement, artists who challenged and rejected the reality of life after the war, its perspective that has always resonated with me. Humor and experimentation are very essential in my practice, it\u2019s important to play, to try, and to find moments of lightness, even in difficult realities.<\/p>

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In many ways, my work reflects the absurdity of the world we live in.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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When someone encounters your work for the first time, what kind of feeling or reflection do you hope it sparks?<\/strong><\/p>

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I hope my work not only sparks a sense of joy but also inspires people to explore and experiment with imagery in their own way. I want it to encourage curiosity, playfulness, and a willingness to reimagine the familiar.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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From the Familiar to the Fantastical In Mariam Ajami\u2019s world, the ordinary rarely remains ordinary for long. A familiar object, a fragment of memory, a photograph, a color, or a gesture can become the beginning of another reality\u2014one shaped by imagination, instinct, humor, and escape. Working across photography, collage, and multimedia, Mariam builds dreamlike compositions […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18976,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[322],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fann-w-fenjein"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/DSC2699.jpg?fit=1800%2C2704&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-rawiya.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-rawiya.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-rawiya.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/al-rawiya.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/al-rawiya.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18975"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/al-rawiya.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18975\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19005,"href":"https:\/\/al-rawiya.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18975\/revisions\/19005"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/al-rawiya.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-rawiya.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/al-rawiya.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/al-rawiya.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}