Haibat Balaa Bawab (b.1952) is a Lebanese artist renowned for her pioneering work in collage art. Through her collages and oil paintings, she weaves narratives of Beirut, Lebanon, its people, mountains, and diverse beauty. Born and raised in Beirut, the city continues to shape her artistic language, as daily scenes inspire her distinctive visual style.
Balaa’s work centers on assemblages of fragments from magazines, stamps, and bills, which she uses to map the cultural fabric of the city. Combining figurative imagery with abstract elements, she draws on memories of village life, harvests, and bygone eras. Recurring motifs such as carpets, rugs, and oriental tapestries evoke serenity and nostalgia, while her subjects reflect a wide range of social strata, from the opulent homes of the haute bourgeoisie to the vibrant floral patterns associated with peasants, refugees, and beggars. Through cut-outs, she creates markers of identity and status.
“My artworks in collage and oil painting vary, encompassing cityscapes, local landscapes, heritage, and nostalgia—reflections of daily life and topical issues. I’m inspired by my surroundings. Even when I travel, my work mirrors my environment and mood,” Balaa states. Her surroundings consistently permeate her artistic process and manifest throughout her work.
Haibat Balaa received her BA in Fine Arts in 1975 from Beirut University College (now the Lebanese American University). She taught for 17 years at the Lebanese American University and served as Fine Arts Coordinator at the American University of Science and Technology (AUST) from 2001 to 2022.
Balaa has held numerous solo exhibitions in Lebanon, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi, and participated in collective exhibitions locally and internationally, including at AUB, LAU, ALBA, Haigazian, Station Des Arts, the Sursock Museum, and the Grand Palais de Paris, as well as exhibitions in Cairo, Bahrain, and Kuwait. In 2019, she participated in the 8th Beijing Biennale China.
She is a member of the Lebanese Association of Painters and Sculptors and the Artists Syndicate. Her work has appeared in several publications, including the monograph Haibat Balaa Bawab: The Art of Collage (2012), and she also authored Beyond the Medium I and Beyond the Medium II for AUST.
An award-winning artist, Balaa received the first and only prize awarded by the Central Bank of Lebanon in 1982 for designing a new Lebanese currency, and won first prize at the Makhoul exhibitions in 1979 and 1980. She continues to inspire artists and art enthusiasts within her community.