Alain Elkann Interviews
Alain Elkann Interviews
Alain Elkann
"Identity Is Something You Choose" — Simone Fattal on Art, Exile, and Belonging - 266 - Alain Elkann Interviews
43 minutes Posted Dec 28, 2025 at 1:30 am.
0:00
43:57
Download MP3
Show notes

MANIFESTATIONS OF THE VOYAGE. Simone Fattal is a Lebanese-American artist. Born in 1942 in Damascus, she was educated in Beirut and Paris, studying philosophy at the École des Lettres and the Sorbonne, as well as archaeology at the École du Louvre. Simone Fattal and Etel Adnan (1925–2021) were life partners for 49 years, artists who shared a profound creative, political, and personal connection. Their multidisciplinary work spans painting, sculpture, poetry, and publishing.

"We have to ask the women prisoners to write the poems. Which they did, and I transcribed them on the surfaces of the lava."

"My inspiration doesn't come from artists. When I'm working, poetic verses come to my mind."

"I'm not displaced, but a traveler."