Laura Taleb is a textile artist and visual artist from Lebanon. She mastered carpet weaving from a young age, and at the age of nineteen she learned to weave handmade kilims (oriental rugs). Later Laura became a trainer in kilim weaving. She delved into it from an aesthetic and technical standpoint, so that it became her passion with all the symbols, ideas, and techniques it contained. In addition, she had a love for all arts. The reason which pushed her to join the College of Fine Arts, and obtain a master’s degree, so that the study she presented on kilims would combine the functional role and the creative aesthetic. In terms of the origin of the kilim and its symbolic and functional role, it is considered one of the oldest industries that originated with man, who used it to cover the body and then evolved to include decorations. The word textile comes from the Latin “texere”, which means weaving or knitting. It is a flat area consisting of a thread or a group of threads intertwined and intertwined with each other. Laura says," My ability to knit and my love for fine art created in me the flexibility to look at heritage with a contemporary vision. So, my textile artworks began to express my spiritual feelings and sensations that I implement with thread, with contemporary artistic output from the heart of traditional civilizations and cultures. The threads became the feather with its colors, and the basis (the warp or length threads) is the canvas (in addition to combining the kilim with the canvas and the colors)".
Laura participated in several local and international exhibitions such as:
- Muscat Festival, Oman with the Research Center for Islamic History, Arts and Culture in Istanbul, 2011. -Participation with the World Crafts Organization Nantong International Contemporary Craft Biennale, China 2014 -Participation with the International Crafts Organization, Kuwait 2016 -Participation in the International Festival of Handicrafts, Uzbekistan Kokand 2019 -Participation in Zar Festival, the Bukhara Uzbekistan 2022 In addition to local participations, the latest of which is the Arab Art Fair -2023.
She was awarded by:
- Nantong International Contemporary Craft Biennale, China 2014