Artist Walid Raad explores fact and fiction in 40-year career

Artist Walid Raad’s nearly 40-year career is defined by a method of blending real-world documents with fictional narratives. This approach, which he describes as “creating the documents I wished already existed,” is currently showcased at the Venice Biennale and has been featured in retrospectives at institutions such as MoMA.

Raad’s work often connects grand political events to an intimate, human scale. His early experiences in war-torn Beirut, where he began documenting his surroundings as a teenager, heavily influence his practice. One notable subject is a series of digitally fabricated birthday cakes dedicated to difficult political figures, including the late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Raad revisited an image of a cake he photographed as a 15-year-old, which was intended for Nasrallah during the Lebanese Civil War.

Other works in his current exhibition include paintings, drawings, and photographs of beds reportedly used by PLO leader Yasser Arafat. Raad spent 30 years searching for these beds, presenting them through an artistic lens that suggests the nature of evidence and historical memory.