Hiba Kalache has an interdisciplinary art practice that encompasses installation, drawing, painting, sculpture, and interactive projects. Her work draws inspiration from her daily life in terms of materials, processes, and content. The artist questions the distinction between private and public spaces—and, in particular, what she describes as “the ordinariness of daily rituals.” In her recent works, she focuses on female desire, the concept of the “abject” (the repulsive or uncanny) as it relates to truth, and the possibilities for the future in an era perpetually trapped in the present. In her exhibition titled *Our Dreams are a Second Life*, Kalache brings together a series of works that continue the themes and gestures she has developed in her recent practice. Produced in the shadow of prolonged socio-historical and existential crises, these works are in delicate harmony with the spirit of the times.

Kalache, who earned a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree from the California College of the Arts (CCA) in San Francisco in 2005, has since held exhibitions in Beirut, Berlin, Brussels, Istanbul, New Orleans, Oakland, San Jose (U.S.), San Francisco, Tehran, Athens, London, and Paris. His works have also been featured at international art fairs such as MENART Fair, Art Dubai, Abu Dhabi Art, Drawing Now (Paris), and Gwangju Art (South Korea). The works he has produced since moving to California in 2021 bear the traces of this geographical and personal transformation.

Among Kalache’s recent exhibitions are *Encounters – Ongoing* (2020), held at Saleh Barakat Gallery’s *The Upper Gallery* space; his solo exhibition *Lemonade Everything Was So Infinite* (2018), curated by Natasha Gasparian and also held at Saleh Barakat Gallery; *Mimesis Expression Construction* (2016), curated by Octavian Esanu and held at the Rose and Shaheen Saleeby Museum at the American University of Beirut; *Heartland* (2015), held at the Beirut Exhibition Center and curated by Joanna Chevalier; and *Under Construction, Exposure* (2014), held at the Beirut Art Center and curated by Marie Muracciole. The artist held solo exhibitions in 2012 at The Running Horse Contemporary Art Space and FFA Private Bank in Beirut. In 2017, she taught fine arts courses at the Lebanese American University.