Underwater and the Art of Healing
‘Nano Moments.’ Lisa Volta-Zalloum. 2021. Oil on panel, 46 x 61 cm. Courtesy of the artist.
Water, in all its depth, its stillness, and its power, is at the heart of Lisa Volta-Zalloum's latest collection.
Serenity in the sincerity of water is what inspired Lisa to create art that both inspires and invites to explore its depths for deeper meaning.
Lisa is a Syrian-American artist who specializes in painting, photography, and mixed media, and whose work explores identity, ecological histories, and the passage of time. She holds an MFA and serves as the Executive Director at Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture, a Philadelphia-based organization dedicated to Arab arts and cultural life. She also teaches art studio classes at Drexel University and the Community College of Philadelphia.
Throughout her career, Lisa received various grants, fellowships, and awards to create new work and support long-term art residencies for Philadelphia students; and her art is regularly held in collections across the United States and internationally.
Through her work with Al-Bustan, Lisa curates exhibitions, performances, and workshops featuring artists of Arab heritage, fostering a deeper understanding and appreciation of their contributions to the contemporary art landscape.
We had the pleasure of sitting down with Lisa to discuss her relationship to water, art, and the spaces between, and ask about her beautifully fluid collection.
I believe that art is a way of being—encompassing creativity, curiosity, problem-solving, expression, emotional connection, and communication. Every aspect of life can be art if you choose to see it that way.
I teach at two local universities in Philadelphia and am always excited when non-art majors join my classes. I believe that all fields of study should incorporate a serious art class. We need emerging thinkers and leaders who can envision solutions to problems that don't yet have logical pathways.
Art helps us grapple with difficult questions, opens gates to understanding, and prompts reflection on the world we live in.
‘An Everlasting Itch For All Things Remote.' Lisa Volta-Zalloum. 2021. Oil on panel, 46 x 61 cm. Courtesy of the artist.
These paintings are part of a collection entitled Holding My Breath Underwater (named for one of the paintings). The story is that many of the paintings were inspired by a last-minute, first-time trip to Nantucket, Massachusetts.
It was the end of summer 2021, and my husband, daughter, and I decided to go there on a whim. On the ferry, I realized I had never been so far “out to sea,” and the island’s flatness made me feel like the ocean could swallow us up at any moment. We got an authentic “Gray Lady” experience with stormy skies one minute and bright sunshine the next, biking on misty trails to fish and farmer’s markets, collecting shells on the sound, and jumping and diving through the roughest of ocean waves.
The story behind the story is that humanity is underwater. Between global systemic injustices, violence, genocide, millions displaced and starving, unending wars, environmental disasters, and a climate in crisis, we are sinking, looking down, watching the show on the flatness of our screens. And like [that time in] Nantucket, it feels like one giant wave could take us out.
I am holding my breath underwater and looking up with strategic optimism, fear, awe, reflection, determination, and a refusal to despair.
Philadelphia is on the east coast of the US, and is flanked by two rivers, the Schuylkill and the Delaware, and the Atlantic Ocean is about an hour’s drive away.
Add: appreciation, respect, and stewardship.
Remove: disregard, entitlement, indifference, and pollution.
‘Riptide,’ Lisa Volta-Zalloum. 2021. Oil on panel, 51 x 51 cm. Courtesy of the artist.
Before my daughter was born, I bought her Naomi Shihab Nye’s book "Sitti’s Secrets.” As she has grown, we love reading Naomi's poems and sharing our favorites in the moment. We both met Naomi through my work with Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture and adore her dearly.
[Naomi’s poem Famous] is a recent favorite that I read to my grandmother while she was in hospice and again at her memorial dinner.
The river is famous to the fish.
The loud voice is famous to silence,
which knew it would inherit the earth
before anybody said so.
The cat sleeping on the fence is famous to the birds
watching him from the birdhouse.
The tear is famous, briefly, to the cheek.
The idea you carry close to your bosom
is famous to your bosom.
The boot is famous to the earth,
more famous than the dress shoe,
which is famous only to floors.
The bent photograph
is famous to the one who carries it
and not at all famous to the one who is pictured.
I want to be famous to shuffling men
who smile while crossing streets,
sticky children in grocery lines,
famous as the one who smiled back.
I want to be famous
in the way a pulley is famous,
or a buttonhole,
not because it did anything spectacular,
but because it never forgot what it could do.
I love jellyfish! They are beautiful and dangerous, and half of them glow in the dark.
Bioluminescence is one of my favourite natural wonders. Although I’ve never seen a bioluminescent sea, it’s on my list, and my camera is ready.
You can learn more about Lisa and her art on her website, and definitely check out Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture to see their incredible work enriching and educating about Arab arts and culture.
‘Holding My Breath Underwater,’ by Lisa Volta-Zalloum. 2021. Oil on panel, 51 x 51 cm. Courtesy of the artist.
