The Artist
Astrid C.
I was born in Paris and grew up amid the resilient ruins of Beirut. My childhood was one of perpetual displacement — from city to city, from village to village, at the mercy of bombs. I arrived in Lebanon in 1982, as the country was sinking into war, and I grew up at the heart of the chaos — carried, like so many women and mothers around me, by that quiet strength that keeps the world standing when everything else collapses.
I first dreamed of studying medicine. But faced with the pain of my parents' divorce, the cruelty of war and the absurdity of daily life, I chose a different way to heal: conceptual art - advertising. That choice felt as much like a rebellion as a return to myself. I had been creating since earliest childhood — decorating events at sixteen, practising architectural and advertising photography at eighteen.
My training at the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts (ALBA) earned me a master's degree in advertising, and I graduated top of my class. I began my career as an art director at Impact BBDO Beirut, before founding Spades, my own photography, casting and production agency. For fifteen years, I created campaigns for brands such as Tabbah Jewelry, Nissan, GS Magazine, Patchi and Christelle Atallah, collaborated with BBDO, Saatchi & Saatchi and Memac Ogilvy, and in 2008 won the Pan Arab Web Golden Award for my Spades Casting website.
« Every piece of art tells a story: sometimes shouted, sometimes whispered, but always deeply felt. »
My creative curiosity never rested. I launched MOONRAY, a line of emotional jewellery — however then, in rapid succession, came my separation, Lebanon's financial collapse in which I lost everything, the pandemic that paralysed my company, and the explosion of the port of Beirut in 2020, which shattered every window in my home while my children narrowly escaped the tragedy. What I lived through then, millions of mothers live through every day: rebuilding everything, alone, in silence, without anyone truly seeing it.
In the midst of that chaos, I found my only possible answer: painting. Painting the female resilience I know from the inside — the kind that does not cry out, but holds firm. The kind that carries children, grief and wars, and keeps moving forward regardless.
In October 2024, following yet another war, I returned to France with my two children. I am rebuilding my life as a single mother, while continuing to grow as a multidisciplinary artist, refusing to be defined by a single medium or a single story. Here, I let my life pour out into my paintings, and and now work as a contemporary painter, offering custom commissions in collaboration with interior architects, creating bespoke art for interiors.
My series Justice is Blind was selected for the international exhibition Building Peace, to be held at the Collégiale de Chartres on 27 March 2027. My canvas Dilemma won the 1st Prize in the public vote at the Arts au Jardin festival in Le Vésinet 2026. Recognition that confirms the universality of a message born at the heart of women's lives — and dedicated to them entirely.
4
Exhibitions
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Collections
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Awards