Born in Beirut
This Series of paintings brings me back to my birthplace. A turbulent childhood spent within a loving family inside sixteen years of violent civil war. The unrest in Lebanon still lingers after all these years. Will this beautiful country on the mediterranean ever know rest again?
Born in Beirut 70cmx50cm
I initially started this piece as a reaction to the financial crisis in Lebanon, where the currency, since September ‘19, has lost more than 85% of its value. As I was working on it, the catastrophic explosion that rocked the Lebanese capital brought back painful memories of destruction and devastation from a childhood interrupted by war. Witnessing Beirut’s destroyed homes and traumatized citizens carrying bloodied relatives to overfilled hospitals, hearing its stories of friends dealing with the pain of loss and destruction, and watching its blown up homes and businesses take me back to the city of my birthplace. And I revert to the little girl in that painting; a layer of life between the corruption of a system that swallows its own people and the fires that rage in its wake. But what all Beirutis know all too well is this: the only way forward is up- and life, in the end -somehow- is the only way to win.
Interrupted 41cm x 51cm
While the city of my birth stills struggles under the weight of so much accumulated damage, its citizens are beginning to tell their stories- each with a life interrupted by what felt like the last straw in an interminable series of painful events- in the impossible equation that is Lebanon. In each of these stories there is a healing force; and I am once again reminded of the Toni Morrison quote that inspires most of my work: “In times of dread, artists must never choose to remain silent. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.”
The Fire Within 60cmx50cm
On the second anniversary of the Beirut blast, this is dedicated to the fire that burns in the heart of every Lebanese today. The fire of anger, of waste, of fear and longing, of the relentlessness of loss, of the fury of helplessness. But also, to the fire that defines the spirit of every Lebanese; the fire of renewal, of passion, of an unending love of life, of invention, of creation and of continual rebirth.
Too Much Noise 58cm x 41cm
When everyone is still repeating the same tired arguments that have killed over 250000 Lebanese and are still propagating hate, ignorance and violence, all I want to say is “Everybody, please, just stop!”
