Samar Maakaron

Samar Maakaron holds a BA in graphic design from the American University of Beirut (2000), and an MA in cross-sectoral and community arts from the University of Goldsmiths, London (2006). She has been working as a freelance designer since 2000 focusing on areas where design, identity, society, art and politics intersect, interact and converge. Following her MA, Samar returned to Lebanon pioneering and initiating new platforms for participation in the arts by adapting western models to meet the specific challenges of a fragmented confessional society. She was instrumental in shaping the award winning and grassroots media initiative Lens on Lebanon, singlehandedly directing the project for more than a year, establishing its vision and operational methodology.
She has collaborated with director Rabih Mroué since 2003 on three of his productions, including his latest to date ‘How Nancy wished that Everything Was an April Fool’s Joke’ which premiered at the Tokyo International arts festival in March 2007.

She has been based in London since April 2008 where she is now director of Afas, art & design LTD, freelancing in design and working on documenting and researching Lebanese visual culture and its interpretation through aesthetic contemporary practices.