Finding Joy in the Mundane
The sky reflected in a puddle filled with rain in a cracked street, by Hoda Zohrob. Courtesy of the artist.
Artist Hoda Zohrob
Where most see only rain, debris, and old cracks, Hoda Zohrob sees colors, textures and wonder.
Equipped with just her phone camera, her positive outlook on life, and her ‘artistic eye’ for unique detail, Hoda has been snapping photos from the world around her and finding beauty in the everyday, ordinary things.
With a bit of color and creativity, she turns her photos into joyful reflective canvases that inspire
at a time of great struggle in her home country of Lebanon.
Ithraeyat interviews Hoda Zohrob, and finds out more about what inspires her and how she finds beauty in the small things.
Ten engraved and enlightened metal by sun-rays on the street, by Hoda Zohrob. Courtney of the artist.
Q1. What does art mean to you?
What art means to me is best captured by the legendary Gibran Khalil Gibran, who once said: “Art arises when the secret vision of the artist and the manifestation of nature agree to find new shapes.”
Art is an innovative way of expressing our beliefs and emotions, and helps awaken slumbering souls. Contemplating, understanding, and enjoying the beautiful artworks of others is an art of comprehending.
I always say that I can’t live without beautiful colors, fragrances, and music. Aren’t they all the essence of art? Art is to enjoy life. It is everywhere. It is in the hands of a talented musician, painter, sculptor, writer, carpenter, tailor and so on. All we need is to look around.
Q2. Tell us about this photographic art project?
At present I am collecting and numerically archiving my pictures, getting fresh ones every day. We just need to look around and that’s what I do with patience and passion. In a later stage I will present my works to galleries and decorators as I wish to see my pictures decorating beautiful venues.
Additionally, having my own gallery and taking part in exhibitions is also in the plan but such projects need financing partners.
Q3. Who and what inspires you?
I guess my passion for colors, beautiful shapes and shades is innate, inherited, or maybe because my mother was a tailor and she taught me what color suits another and how to match and modify models and shapes.
You can find bold colors in my closet; lots of red, yellow, orange, and violet. I want my life to be colorful.
I am certainly inspired by Gibran, hee who sees the unseen and wants us to find beauty in all aspects of living despite contradictions and conflicts even in the minor things.
‘Obsolete garden ground,’ by Hoda Zohrob. Courtesy of the artist.
“He who does not see the angels and devils in the beauty and malice of life will be far removed from knowledge, and his spirit will be empty of affection,” he said.
The beauty I look after is in Gibran’s spiritual and logical virtues. And responding to his call I find it in my inner self, minor things and when I’m able to see the invisible visible, so everything can be possible.
I often go out to hunt for colors and capture them with my camera, , such as in an engraved or spotted oxidized nail in a humid and rotten wall; or in the sun rays penetrating puddles of rain on an abandoned street to reflect beautiful shapes as if they are stars shining in space.
All of these undetectable spots form beautiful tableaux in my mind that I interpret into photos.
‘Dirty pavement covered with soil and glass,’ by Hoda Zohrob. Courtesy of the artist.
Q4. Tell us how you find joy and peace?
Joy and peace are related and have many facets. They ought to be first in our inner selves, for when we are joyful we are peaceful and vice versa.
It’s when we are watching a child playing, contemplating a unique piece of art by a creative artist or swaying to the tune of music with our loved ones to celebrate a happy occasion. All this brings so much joy.
It is also when I go wandering through the narrow alleys of Beirut, where the traces of the war are still visible in smashed and bullet-riddled walls, cracked and unpaved floors, holes filled with rainwater or from a broken water tap. I still can find vibrant, shaped and shaded spots to capture with my camera and form beautiful pictures to share with loved ones and the world.
‘Beauty interrupted by cables, reflecting the crisis in beautiful Lebanon,’ by Hoda Zohrob. Courtesy of the artist.
Q5. What motto do you live by?
I believe in the motto of the half-filled glass. I am optimistic, and I try to be a positive influence for those around me.
‘Colored stones on the floor forming a bird shape,’ by Hoda Zohrob. Courtesy of the artist.
Q6. Tell us about some of your favorite artists and why?
There are many actually.
If I had to name just one artist, it would be Gibran, because I trust in his noble principles. I am influenced by him and inspired by the beauty and nobleness of his messages that are revealed through his visual and written art; messages that call for wisdom, awareness, and balance that are needed in all times.
We live in a world where justice, peace, and unity are missing, so we are called to read Gibran. Our world is full of anger, disintegration, corruption, disorientation, and anarchy. Then let us respond to Gibran’s pleas that stand sincerely to reject barriers that separate nations and individuals and to reconcile reason and passion, balancing physical and spiritual guidance of living.
We hope to see Hoda’s art in exhibitions soon, and even part of a book of joy, for those around her, and anyone who happens to need a smile on a particularly difficult day.
