Glances of Power

Shefa Salem’s Libyan-Greek Conflict is a prophetic work. One that feels less painted than foreseen. Two women lock eyes in a moment of charged recognition, while the men beside them clasp one another in the only form of connection they seem capable of offering. One woman is surrounded by defensive tools; the other braces behind a shield. Though the palette is restrained, the emotional depth is anything but muted. On either side of the composition, Salem places birds whose symbolic ties reflect the opposing tactical positions at play.

Created in 2023, this oil and mixed-media canvas pulls its narrative strength from a foundational myth: the story of Antaeus. Antaeus, the Libyan giant born of Earth, gained power through physical contact with his mother, a symbol of indigenous culture and land-rooted identity. In myth, Hercules, standing in for Greek influence, travels through Libya in search of the Gardens of the Hesperides and ultimately confronts Antaeus, sparking a clash that embodies the long-standing cultural tensions between the two civilizations.

Salem translates this myth not as a distant fable but as a living dissension. Within the painting, the Libyan and Greek components face one another as two histories colliding, two lineages refusing erasure. The work asserts something essential: long before Greece mythologized Libya, Libya possessed its own culture, power, and influence extensive enough to leave an imprint on Greece itself.

Born in Benghazi in 1996, Salem is a self-taught Libyan visual artist with a background in architecture and urban planning. Since emerging on the Libyan art scene in 2018, she has carved out a distinct voice. One rooted in heritage, womanhood, and the often-ignored dimensions of conflict.

Libyan-Greek Conflict resonated with me instantly. At its center is a truth I’ve been wrestling with: the ongoing infringements against women, everywhere, by systems that insist on preserving their own dominance. Salem captures this dissent without theatrics or spectacle, only quiet confrontation and unspoken solidarity.

I receive this work as someone who deeply understands that misogyny does not harm women alone; it corrodes societies, destabilizes communities, and weakens entire cultures in ways that echo through myth and into modernity.