“Stories My Father Told Me” is a series of twenty-three gouache paintings by Lebanese-American artist Helen Zughaib. Based on the memories of her father, Elia, who was born in Damascus in 1927 under the French Mandate, this large body of work is filled with the recollections of his early childhood in the Old City of the Syrian capital and the subsequent years of his youth that were spent in the Lebanese towns of Zahle and Marjayoun. Beginning in 2003, Helen and her father collaborated on the series through sporadic exchanges that took place over the course of several years. After recording a specific memory or fable that would come to mind, Elia would give his written account to his daughter, who would then paint and document it; until one day he gave her what would be the final installment, a tragic tale of displacement that was painted as “Crossing the Litani.” (Maymanah Farhat) More here.