Shireen Taweel’s practice reflects the diasporic landscape she inhabits as a Lebanese Australian, employing cross-cultural discourse around the construction of cultural heritage, knowledge, identity, and language. Through sensorially immersive installations that draw on architecture, Islamic science and ritual, Taweel brings to light histories and cultural practices that have been buried beneath the weight of social political power structures. Her most recent work rests speculative astral architecture upon a diverse foundation of past celestial technologies.

The development and research for her projects are often site-specific, working in collaboration with local communities, their architecture and their environment with a focus on experimentation in material and sound through site. Through the contemporary use of heritage coppersmith artisan techniques, including engraving and hand-piercing, Taweel’s works create a space for shared histories and fluid community identities.

Shireen Taweel graduated from a bachelor of Fine Arts in 2015 at the School For Creative Arts Hobart, and completed a Graduate Diploma of Fine Arts in Sculpture in 2016 at The National Art School, Sydney. She is a current resident at the Carriageworks’ Clothing Store Artist Studios, Sydney.

Taweel’s most recent solo shows include Sacred architecture and the celestial body at STATION Gallery, Sydney (2023), Shoe Bathers at Firstdraft Gallery (2022), Switching Codes at Fairfield City Gallery (2020), Holding Patterns at 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, Sydney (2020) and razing legacy at Haven For Artists in Beirut (2019). Her works have been widely exhibited in notable institutions throughout Australia and Lebanon. Taweel’s artworks have been acquired by the National Gallery of Australia, the Art Gallery of New South Wales (2021), Bendigo Art Gallery (2022), and Creative Australia (2023). Shireen is represented by STATION Gallery, Australia.

Over the years she has fostered relationships with various high schools across Western Sydney by running drawing, sculpture and technical copper engraving workshops with young adults from her studio awarding her with The Arts and Culture Medal from Multicultural NSW (2018), and a highly commended award for Arts and Cultural Australia Day Awards (2020).

© Shireen Taweel 2024