BROKEN DREAMS

is a poignant and deeply personal series of paintings that explore the intersection of aspiration and loss. Through vibrant, imaginary houses—homes he wishes he could live in—Halbouni expresses a dream that feels increasingly out of reach. In a time when property prices are soaring, the artist confronts the frustrating reality that owning a home has become almost impossible, turning what should be a fundamental sense of stability into an unattainable fantasy.

Yet, Broken Dreams is more than just a reflection on contemporary struggles. It is also a meditation on history, memory, and displacement, woven through the experiences of his own family. Both sides of Halbouni’s family have faced the trauma of losing their homes and properties over the last 80 years, a generational wound that echoes through his work. By blending his imagined dream houses with the architectural fragments of his family’s lost past, Halbouni creates a layered narrative—one where personal longing meets collective history.

The bright, almost surreal colors of his paintings stand in contrast to the painful themes they carry. This visual approach suggests a form of resistance: an insistence on hope, on rebuilding, even when the past is marked by erasure. In Broken Dreams, Halbouni transforms loss into creation, using art to reimagine not just what was taken, but what could be—if only dreams could become reality.