b chehayeb

moving to the suburbs, 2024

According to b chehayeb, life changed dramatically after her family moved to the suburbs when she was very young. The painting titled moving to the suburbs (2024) offers visualizations of these experiences—a highway’s dotted yellow line, the Spanish letter Ñ, a pool, and stars from many points in time—are all condensed onto one canvas. my entire life changed…we had a truck, a house and pool and ‘better schools,’ my room had fancy light switches and the parking lots were painted well. i always thought of west texas when i was away from it, not in terms of missing it but in terms of it being closer to who i was culturally so the memories i have of this time feel even more fragmented than usual. this time period was marked by driving in between cities a lot to see family —b chehayeb With a robust writing practice that often runs parallel to her work in the studio, it is important to note that chehayeb intentionally uses lowercase text to amplify the feeling of a thought or a memory encountered mid-sentence—a part of something larger and not the beginning or end. chehayeb elucidates, “i suppose it’s like removing a memory from the organization of time, or something linear.” Each painting is open ended, with plenty of room for a viewer’s own experiences to jump in and take shape.

Inquire