Tsawwar… Francesca Matta
What does the sea remember when we forget?
"This series explores the void as both an emotional and physical space, suspended between presence and absence. Through fragments of light, the photographs trace fleeting moments of intimacy, solitude, and disconnection. The images become emotional landscapes where silence, memory, and longing coexist. 'What does the sea remember when we forget?' approaches the void not as emptiness, but as a living space charged with tension, stillness, and unseen emotion."
Francesca Matta (b. 1994) is a visual artist based in Beirut, Lebanon. Working primarily through photography, her practice explores memory, intimacy, and the fragility of time through images, text, and archives. Her work moves between fashion and visual storytelling, shaped by a sensitivity to light, gestures, and fleeting moments. She is currently undertaking a photography residency at Imago+ in Puglia, where she is developing an artist book centered on the city of Bari.
Tsawwar is an ongoing visual series in Daftar which explores the stories behind a photograph, taken in the region or by an Arab photographer, written in their own words.
