Raafat Ballan / Sophie Steengracht

Artists Raafat Ballan and Sophie Steengracht (1990, Syria / 1991, Nederland) have been sharing their lives since 2019, and therefore also their art, their spirit and their gaze, with each other.

Steengracht approaches her practice through mythology, animism and transformation, creating worlds in which humans, flora and other forms of life continuously shift, merge and depend on one another. Raafat Ballan paints people and images that go beyond the now, history or our image of where things are going. His art explores complex subjects, creating realistic yet strange images that capture a split second before emotion and judgment. Inspired by a shared love for the magical-realist poems of the painter and writer Etel Adnan (Beirut 1925–Paris 2021), the artists collaborated on the exhibition The labyrinth that you are (2026), with a title taken from a statement by Etel Adnan.