Art has the power to transcend time, geography, and history, creating bridges between the past and the present. Monya Riachi’s latest exhibition, Safe Waters, is a testament to this. Opened on 7th February 2025 at Lewisham Arthouse, this exhibition marks the culmination of her time on the Lewisham Arthouse Graduate Residency Award.
Safe Waters is also presented as part of As We Are, Might Have Been and Could Be initiative, a three-year visual arts and talent development programme by the Arab British Centre, funded by the Freelands Foundation. Rooted in her Lebanese heritage, Riachi’s work deeply explores the cultural and geographical ties that define her artistic expression. She intertwines history, nature, and symbolism, presenting a narrative that is both personal and universally resonant.
As an interdisciplinary artist, Riachi’s practice of material research is realized through installation, sculpture, and atmosphere. Her work is narrative-driven, centring matter as a site of archive and engaging with themes around loss, ecological transformation, the politics of land and time, and the entanglement of histories of her home and adopted country, Lebanon and Britain. Through a new materialist approach, she draws on personal and political histories.
The work begins by considering the very building in which it is exhibited—the former Deptford Central Library, a Victorian heritage structure—examining its construction year (1914), its benefactor (Andrew Carnegie), whose philanthropy was funded by his fortune in steel, and the founding of Lewisham in 862 CE. Riachi then extends these inquiries to explore their ties to the continued violence on the land from which she comes: the Levant. Drawing connections across geographies and time, she uses steel, the poppy, salt, and water as both subjects and materials to create a site-specific installation that holds notions of history as well as our present.
At the heart of the exhibit is the elemental relationship between salt and water, two forces that embody both connection and destruction. Salt carries a dual identity, it is essential for life, yet historically, it has been wielded as a tool of power by occupying forces. Mediterranean Sea salt, with its rich geographical significance, plays a central role in the exhibit, highlighting the fluidity of its relationship with water. Salt captures water’s trace, only to dissolve and reform, a poetic reminder of the cyclical nature of existence and the inextricable connection between these two elements.
Through her artistic process, Riachi allows materials to act organically, guiding the creative flow rather than imposing strict control. The result is a natural evolution of form, where materials like Mediterranean Sea salt capture traces of water, dissolving and reforming, embodying their interconnectedness.
For Riachi, audience interaction is key. She hopes visitors will engage with her work not just visually, but emotionally and intellectually. She seeks to spark curiosity, encouraging people to question the complex relationships between nature, conflict, and resilience. Above all, Safe Waters promotes a sense of peace and sanctuary, offering a space where art and history converge in meaningful dialogue.
For those seeking an immersive, thought-provoking exhibition, Safe Waters is an invitation to navigate the delicate balance between preservation and erosion, conflict and peace, destruction and renewal. Through Safe Waters, Monya Riachi creates more than an exhibition of her work, she constructs an experience. It is a space for reflection, discovery, and dialogue, where history and materials intertwine to tell a story that is both deeply personal and universally relevant.
Safe Waters by Monya Riachi – Open now until 8 March at Lewisham Arthouse
Exhibition Info | Written by Maya Amsler