As part of Alison Lochhead’s Art for Peace collection, currently on display in our Newcastle Common spaces and at Keele University, we are excited to be welcoming Semaan Khawam into our Newcastle Common space to create art with the community.

Semaan Khawam is a Lebanese painter, designer, graffiti artist, actor, writer and poet. As an artist-in-residence, Semaan will be using our Newcastle Common Astley Walk space as a place to create art with input from the community.

Drop-in sessions will be taking place Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from Thursday 9 to Saturday 25 June 11am to 3pm. The sessions aim to open art to the community to encourage self expression. The door is always open for Semaan when he is in the studio. He is looking to have conversations and invite guests to use the different tools available to express themselves. Sessions will be mainly painting, writing and small sculptures.

Find out more about Semaan’s story via the video below:

Warning: This video includes adult content

More about Semaan Khawam 

Semaan Khawam is a Lebanese painter, designer, graffiti artist, actor, writer and poet. He is born in 1974 and lived and worked in Beirut until he recently could no longer. Khawam is a frequent exhibitor and his work has been featured at personal or collective exhibitions at, among others, Galerie Janine Rubeiz, the Joanna Seikaly art gallery and the Nada Debs gallery. His art and poetry have been featured in Arab and international newspapers.