Dr.O, Imagine-Otherwise Series, Huguette Caland
imagine/otherwise presents critical biographies of underrepresented queer, non-binary, or female-identifying artists. Edited by Dr. Omar Kholeif and presented in collaboration with artPost21, the series emphasizes the concept of “female worlding” with books that serve as field guides into previously unexplored, overlooked, or inaccessible artistic lives. The overall proposition of the series (to “imagine” a world “otherwise”) stems from the desire to find a different way of writing and reading about art. Can art be examined unreservedly, unburdened of the limits imposed by the dominant hand of hegemony? Current editorial advisors for the series include Skye Arundhati Thomas, Zoe Butt, Carla Chammas, Alison Hearst, Sarah Perks and Sofia Victorino.
Lebanese-born artist, Huguette Caland (1931–2019) was a path-breaking figure in late modernism. The only daughter of the first Lebanese president, Bechara El Khoury, she produced a singular body of art that spanned media and continents. Working for more than five decades, her art is recognized for its embodied aesthetic and its unique sensuality.
In this searching critical biography, author and curator, Omar Kholeif, disentangles the seeming madness, velocity, and the interiority of Caland’s life.
Both an epistolary memoir and a biography, Kholeif, interleaves the affective experience of encountering the artist over a period of 18 years, as readers are summoned on a journey through clouds of bristling color. Here, Caland’s fields of light are set to lyric prose and poetry, fashioning a scene for looking at and experiencing the erotics of art anew.
Designed by: Simon Josebury, SecMoCo
Published by: Sternberg Press
Co published by: artPost21
11×16 cm, 224 pages
ISBN 978-1-915609-72-4
English
Softcover, 2025