The Earth Laughs in Flowers Larissa Chaoul’s First Solo Exhibition Opens at Arthaus Beirut

Beirut, June 2025 – Arthaus Beirut unveils “The Earth Laughs in Flowers”, the much-anticipated debut solo exhibition by rising Lebanese artist Larissa Chaoul. Drawing hundreds of art lovers, collectors, and critics on opening night, the exhibition marks a bold entrance for Chaoul onto the regional contemporary art scene.
Featuring over 30 original works—including 17 large-scale paintings and 17 metal sculptures—the exhibition, organized in collaboration with The Gallerist by Alia Matar Hilal, invites viewers into an immersive world where nature, humanity, and memory converge. Taking its name from a line in Ralph Waldo Emerson’s poem Hamatreya, the collection explores the ironic beauty and quiet defiance of nature against human folly.
“The earth laughs in flowers,” Emerson wrote.
“It’s a bit ironic,” Larissa notes, “and that’s what drew me to it.”
Chaoul’s abstract expressionist style fuses organic forms with hints of the human figure. Portraits of women bloom into petals, while bodies melt into vines. Her signature white masks and eyes, subtly integrated into the works, suggest transformation, anonymity, and the shifting nature of self, adding a layer of mystery to her art. “My signature is the mask, not the flowers. Everything is connected.” The portraits seem to shift, merging with natural elements, reinforcing the idea that human identity and nature are intertwined. Among the standout pieces is a five-meter floral canvas that commands the gallery’s main wall, as well as a series of six evocative portraits, each featuring women holding flowers, suspended between bloom and decay. “Nature and humanity are not separate,” the artist explains. “They mirror each other—fluid, fragile, and fiercely alive.”
Through distortion, layering, and raw movement, Chaoul brings her architectural background into conversation with emotion. Her works feel tactile, almost breathing—caught between chaos and clarity. “The earth, indifferent and eternal, laughs in flowers. And perhaps, through these forms, we learn to listen…” Larissa explains, insisting her work explores the fluid boundaries between identity, escape, and memory.
About the Artist
Larissa Chaoul is a Beirut-based visual artist and trained architect whose practice blurs the lines between identity, landscape, and transformation. After studying architecture at ALBA (Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts), Chaoul turned to visual arts as a space of freedom, where emotion, distortion, and nature collide. “The Earth Laughs in Flowers” marks her first solo exhibition.
Exhibition Info
The Earth Laughs in Flowers
Arthaus Beirut, Gemmayzeh
Dates: 09-15 June 2025