{"id":275850,"date":"2026-05-01T17:55:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T22:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esse.ca\/portfolio\/rad-hourani\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T14:48:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T19:48:26","slug":"rad-hourani","status":"publish","type":"portfolio","link":"https:\/\/esse.ca\/en\/portfolios\/rad-hourani\/","title":{"rendered":"Rad Hourani"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Through his art, Rad Hourani presents alternatives to socially imposed norms. As an artist with dyslexia, ADD, and dysphonia, he challenges a world based on ableism and uses his experience to place inclusion at heart of his practice. His approach, consistently developed over many years, lies at the intersection of art and social transformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As early as 2005, Hourani shook up the dictates of dress codes with an exploration of neutral, genderless attire. Combining male and female patterns, he revisited size charts, fusing them into a single unisex system. The garments produced in this new paradigm address people\u2019s needs, regardless of their gender, age, or proportions. The painting series Anonymous Morphologies<\/em> (2024) can be analyzed from this perspective. Here, Hourani pursues his reflection on physical norms with a critique of the terminology used to describe the body: hourglass, triangle, oval, round, trapezoid, slender, and so on. In each work, he investigates the body and how it evolves in its environment, in the architecture that contains it. Between figuration and abstraction, the silhouettes present a vocabulary of ungendered forms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the exhibition Classroom of Language<\/em> (2023), Hourani examines writing and its everyday application through an invented alphabet. The forms resemble letters, but attention is drawn to the materials, to their arrangement in the space, to the interlocking textures. Each piece can be touched, which brings an element of sensuality to learning this new language. It is also possible to not decipher anything, not grasp the lexical scope of the proposal, not deduce the meaning of the letters. There is no good or bad answer. Hourani brings the educational system into question and opens up an exchange with invisible disabilities and problems of access attendant on the written word and our attachment to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By inviting his audience to unlearn social norms and challenge the systems on which they are founded, Hourani opens a precious, liberating space for reflection that is both necessary and profoundly beneficial to society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Translated by Ron Ross<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"Against
Rad Hourani<\/strong>
Adjective<\/em>, 2022.
Photo: courtesy of the artist<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
\"A
Rad Hourani<\/strong>
Silhouette 01<\/em>, 185,4 \u00d7 137,2 cm, from the series Morphologies anonymes \/ Anonymous Morphologies<\/em>, 2024.
Photo: courtesy of the artist<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"A
Rad Hourani<\/strong>
Silhouette 06<\/em>, 185,4 \u00d7 137,2 cm,<\/em> from the series Morphologies anonymes \/ Anonymous Morphologies<\/em>, 2024.
Photo: courtesy of the artist<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":275843,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":true},"categories":[885],"numeros":[8014],"disciplines":[],"statuts":[],"checklist":[],"auteurs":[3354],"artistes":[8062],"thematiques":[],"type_portfolio":[],"class_list":["post-275850","portfolio","type-portfolio","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-portfolio","numeros-117-crip","auteurs-manon-tourigny-en","artistes-rad-hourani-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/275850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/portfolio"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/275843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275850"},{"taxonomy":"numeros","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/numeros?post=275850"},{"taxonomy":"disciplines","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/disciplines?post=275850"},{"taxonomy":"statuts","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/statuts?post=275850"},{"taxonomy":"checklist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/checklist?post=275850"},{"taxonomy":"auteurs","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/auteurs?post=275850"},{"taxonomy":"artistes","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artistes?post=275850"},{"taxonomy":"thematiques","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/thematiques?post=275850"},{"taxonomy":"type_portfolio","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/type_portfolio?post=275850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}