Axelle Kurban

I am a transdisciplinary research-based artist from Beirut, Lebanon, working in textiles and installation art as viewed through a Middle Eastern lens. My practice focuses on identity, memory, and heritage, especially as they relate to queer Arab experience. My thesis project, Thread Bare, explores the way rug making can serve as a form of resistance and a means of storytelling. Reinterpreting traditional weaving techniques, I embed personal and collective queer histories into each tapestry. The work explores themes of sacredness, memory, and resilience, using fabric as both material and metaphor. Through this process I aim to challenge the erasure of LGBTQ+ narratives within Arab culture. Thread Bare preserves these stories by giving them space, texture, and weight, reimagining ancestral practices as living, evolving expressions of identity.