Artwork Description
Habibi- Dammed HPM Pop Street Artwork Limited Edition Giclee Print With Acrylic & Diamond Dust on Photographique Rag Paper by Urban Graffiti Modern Artist Marwan Shahin.
2022 Signed & Numbered Limited Edition of 33 Marwan Shahin's "HABIBI" series an iconic portrait of Lebanese singer Fairuz interpreted throughout different stages of experiencing love, This very limited edition of 33, which each print is intricately arranged with a filigree of Diamond Dust to produce visually intoxicating kaleidoscope-like effects.
Habibi: Dammed by Marwan Shahin – A Keyhole Into the Fractures of Love
Habibi: Dammed by Marwan Shahin is a haunting and emotionally saturated piece that continues the artist’s compelling exploration of Lebanese music legend Fairuz through the lens of modern street pop art. This 2022 work is part of the HABIBI series, a collection of limited edition Giclée prints—only 33 copies exist—each hand-embellished with acrylic and diamond dust on Photographique Rag paper. With this piece, Shahin delves deeper into the psychological terrain of love, vulnerability, and memory by introducing bold symbolic motifs and a dramatic palette shift. The most striking element is the red and black optical wave background, which radiates tension and intensity. It contrasts sharply with the calm, solemn gaze of Fairuz, whose face is rendered in Shahin’s now-iconic engraved style. But this version introduces an arresting twist: a keyhole-shaped cutout in her face reveals a second, stylized inner portrait. That smaller image—a blue-hued, teary-eyed rendition of Fairuz’s likeness—invokes a fractured duality, as if the viewer is peering into her hidden emotional depths.
Symbolism, Inner Worlds, and the Emotional Keyhole
The use of the keyhole as a framing device is particularly powerful. It evokes the sense of unlocking private emotion, memory, or heartbreak—allowing viewers access to an internal world usually concealed from the public eye. The interior portrait rendered in bold blue and crimson tones acts as the psychological counterpoint to the stoic exterior. This duality captures the volatility and complexity of romantic love, a recurring theme throughout Shahin’s HABIBI series. Shahin’s hand embellishments, particularly the application of diamond dust, add another dimension to the work. The sparkle of the dust against the matte and flat inks creates visual tension—glamour clashing with grief, radiance interwoven with ruin. Each piece in the edition carries its own nuances due to these handcrafted touches, ensuring that every collector receives a one-of-a-kind artifact that echoes the layered nature of its subject matter.
Pop Culture, Street Art, and Arab Emotional Realism
As with other works by Marwan Shahin, Habibi: Dammed is deeply rooted in the visual language of street pop art and graffiti artwork, but with unmistakable Middle Eastern sensibility. Fairuz—long considered the voice of the Arab soul—is an apt muse for such a project. Shahin transforms her from a musical icon into a symbolic vessel for the universal experience of longing, heartbreak, and emotional revelation. Rather than idealize, Dammed humanizes. It pushes against the polished veneers of celebrity and national identity to reveal the turbulent inner tides that define the human experience. It is love not as perfection, but as a landscape of contradictions—intimate, messy, radiant, and raw. This piece is more than a portrait; it is an invitation to witness the private wars waged inside public figures, and a powerful testament to Shahin’s mastery at balancing emotion, iconography, and craft in the tradition of globally conscious pop art.
