Joëlle Tomb is an abstract painter, art advocate, and curator based in Newton, Massachusetts. Born in Lebanon and raised in Saudi Arabia and Canada, she earned her Master’s degree in Education before turning her focus to the arts.

Art runs deep in her family: her grandfather, Maroun Tomb, was a Lebanese-Palestinian painter, and her father, Fouad Tomb, is a modern Lebanese artist who dedicated his life to arts education. Joëlle’s own practice and curatorial work continue this multigenerational legacy.

She served as a docent at the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) Boston for three years and has facilitated numerous public art initiatives. Joëlle is the former Board President of the New Art Center and an honorary trustee of the Art Resource Collaborative for Kids (ARCK).

In 2020, she co-founded the Fouad & May Tomb Foundation for the Arts, an international platform dedicated to preserving her family’s artistic heritage and promoting art as a force for humanity. In 2024, she established The Lost Paintings, Inc., a 501(c)(3) organization that unites international curators and cultural producers to uncover and share the untold stories behind art from around the world.

Joëlle’s first solo exhibition took place at Newton City Hall in 2019. Since then, she has participated in numerous group exhibitions both locally and internationally. Her curatorial projects include:

    •    Mehswar: A Painter’s Return (2022), Nearby Gallery, Newton, MA

    •    Meshwar of an Artist from Palestine to Lebanon: Dialogue Between Two Generations, Maroun & Fouad Tomb (2023), Dar El-Nimer for Arts and Culture, Beirut, Lebanon

    •    Aswat: Elevating Arab Women’s Voices (2023), New Art Center, Newton, MA

When she is not following her passion for the arts, Joëlle works in luxury residential real estate, helping clients find homes that reflect their unique stories and lifestyles.

Rula Khoury is an art curator, historian and art critic, currently based in Haifa. Khoury earned her Master’s degree in Art History from Haifa University (2011) and an additional Master in Writing Art Criticism from the School of Visual Arts, New York (2017). Khoury served as the General Director of the Arab Culture Association in Haifa (2020 ) and before that was the artistic director of the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center in Ramallah (2014). In 2014, as part of the Qalandiya International Biennale, she curated the Manam exhibition in Haifa, and the Mapping Procession, a happening event in the streets of Ramallah. Her art critique was published in various art magazines, such as Tohu Magazine, Arab 48, and Tribe Photo Magazine. Since 2010, Khoury has been an instructor and advisor in higher education institutions and taught at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem, the International Academy of Art in Ramallah and the Oranim College near Haifa.

Haidi Motola is a visual artist and a doctoral student at the Academy of Fine Arts of Uniarts Helsinki. Her research focuses on archives, memory and political imagination in the colonial context. Since 2016, she has been a member of Activestills, a collective of documentary photographers, whose work focuses on decolonial struggles in Palestine. Over the years, she has been involved in various art and activist initiatives, including, recently, with Bedouin women living in unrecognized villages in the Naqab.