BackAbdallah Kassem & Cathy Jardon
Abdallah Kassem is a dentist and visual artist based in Beirut, Lebanon. He received formal training in painting at the Lebanese University of Fine Arts in Beirut and worked closely with the esteemed artist Ara Azad. During the Covid-19 pandemic, he began working with a thermal camera, exploring the intimacy of temperature and the traces of heat exchanged between the human body and surrounding materials. This research led him to create immersive, visitable installations that invite embodied interaction. In 2023, Kassem collaborated with artists from Lebanon, Palestine, and Germany, fostering creative exchange across borders — a project that came to an abrupt halt on October 7, 2023.
He held his first solo exhibition, The Red Sea, at Tanit Gallery, Beirut, in December 2023.
In 2025, through digital text, experimental imaging, and performance-based work, he initiated his ongoing series Black Letters, a live audio-visual installation that forms a personal and collective performative archive engaging participants from around the world.
