Marie Khouri

Canada/France

Bio

Marie Khouri is a Paris and Vancouver based sculptor who captures the changing focus of inclusivity, diversity, and the rising role of women in the art world. She also represents today’s broad multi-cultural and diverse global demographic. Born in Egypt and raised in Lebanon, Khouri has developed a vast range of cultural and historical influences within her practice. Fluent in Arabic, Hebrew, English and French, Khouri fled Beirut with her family in the 1970s during the Lebanese Civil War. She relocated to Spain and Canada, finally setstling in Paris where she was classically trained in sculpture at l’École du Louvre.

Khouri’s works are rooted in a profound sense of dislocation and the search for a greater sense of place. Her sculptures are formed through an extensive hands-on process that employs traditional sculpting techniques alongside contemporary innovations in material and building standards.

Marie Khouri relays messages of movement, community, and connection through her artworks. As an immigrant spending time across Europe before settling in Canada, Khouri’s work speaks to a unified and diverse audience, creating sculptures that unify communities.

Her early career as a language interpreter continues to impact her work, drawing from language to look for new ways to create a connection through art.

Khouri’s work resides at the often-tenuous place between art and design, with close integration of form and function, reminiscent of modernist thinking best epitomized by the Bauhaus School. Although each artwork is often monochromatic, her dominant palette is white, black, red, and bronze, she also works with a number of mediums including charcoal, bronze, concrete, resin, and metallic wire.

Over the past 15 years, Khouri has exhibited extensively in Europe and North America. She has over 25 public artworks in Canada and abroad while her large-scale sculptures are held in private collections across the globe. Playful and inviting, Khouri works alongside developers, architects, and other community stakeholders to create sculptures that are truly reflective of the community they serve.