YOUSSEF TAKES A SEAT AT BAR SARACEN

• Bar Saracen
• 22 Punch Lane
• Melbourne, Victoria
• Australia

Originally part of Christine Eid’s Transit exhibition, Youssef (2006) went on to adorn the entrance at Moor’s Head in Thornbury for many years, eventually moving in 2018 to Bar Saracen where it sits proudly atop its bar.

Many years ago while riding in a Melbourne tram, Joseph Abboud (now chef and restaurateur of Bar Saracen, Rumi and Moor’s Head) spotted Eid’s artwork being worn by a fellow commuter - a shoulder bag, made from outdoor furniture awning with a seatbelt strap and garden mesh hand-embroidered with Lebanese nursery rhymes and printed Australian symbols of transport. This sparked the beginning of a wonderful and enduring friendship.

Abboud soon acquired Youssef which was part of a body of work titled Your Place (2006) exhibited at Span Galleries in Melbourne’s Flinders Lane in 2006 and at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney in 2009. He has been an enthusiastic and encouraging supporter of Eid’s work ever since.