The last few months have been culture-packed – a never-ending series of art exhibitions, dance performances, plays and concerts. Now that I am working freelance for the newspaper I spend my time either writing, interviewing or attending cultural events – not a bad life, I have to admit!
One week back in Beirut and I’m struggling to get back into a routine now that I’m not in the office everyday. I’ve spent a lot of my time baby-sitting little Sam, celebrating his first ever easter by decorating the little tree on the balcony with easter decorations (Sam was far more interested in the packaging that the decorations) and dying eggs to make a colourful easter basket. Sam loved the dye, as he is going through a phase where he is obsessed with water, and very much enjoyed splashing the colours all over me, himself, the table, the floor, his high-chair and everything else in a three-metre radius.
Beirut is a city of contradictions. It’s 1000 other places and things and at the same time it’s utterly unique.
It’s Roman ruins…
…and it’s Dunkin Donuts. Continue reading
A couple of people expressed interest in seeing more of Beirut’s graffiti. In my previous post on Beirut’s Street Art I posted pictures of the art around Hamra and Gemmayzeh, two central, residential districts of Beirut. In the process of researching my article on graffiti in Beirut for Hibr online I subsequently made a trip to Karantina, one of Beirut’s industrial areas out by the port, in order to photograph the graffiti art there, which is a lot bigger and more impressive, as artists go there to bomb the ugly concrete walls along the main road in and out of Beirut so that people see their work on their boring commutes to and from work from Northern Lebanon.
A skeleton road-sweeper surrounded by ravens on the side of a bullet-ridden building
I am in the process of researching an article about Beirut’s graffiti, and been photographing street art all around the city for the past few weeks. Of the first things that struck me about Beirut when I arrived was the volume and quality of the street art, which is not only in the industrial areas of the city such as Quarantina, but also in the richer and more upmarket areas, such as Hamra and Achrefieh. As a picture is worth 1000 words I’ll let these images speak for themselves.
A man in army uniform holds a sign reading 'I love corruption' in Arabic
