Illustrations by Jaimee Lee Haddad.
I recently moved house and have been discovering a totally different neighbourhood of Beirut. I feel like this relatively minor change has already altered how I see the city and the way I move through it, which has got me thinking about how much we’re stimulated by our environments. The idea also stood out to me in this week’s selection of articles. They each have their own way of demonstrating how our sense of place feeds our thoughts, actions and creativity.
Director Mounia Akl discovers parallels between Ireland and Lebanon, artist Samia Halaby asserts her exclusively Palestinian identity and two architects, who fell in love with Aleppo before the civil war, return to restore a medieval palace — I hope you enjoy their stories this weekend, wherever they happen to find you!
Lebanese director Mounia Akl made her first splash after directing the beloved film Costa Brava, a family drama that captures the chaos of Beirut and the complexities of the country. Now she’s lending a hand on Netflix’s new epic House of Guinness, finding surprising symmetries between Lebanon and Ireland.
Watch a film under the stars, tucked between the ancient stones of Jbeil – it sounds impossibly romantic, but this weekend, one of the most historic cities in the world will host its first International Film Festival. Another one for the books!
Surgeon, sculptor, clarinetist — a Lebanese renaissance man, you might say. After performing medical miracles — from the world’s first hand transplant to groundbreaking pancreas and double-arm surgeries — Nadey Hakim is now immortalizing the likes of Queen Elizabeth and Donald Trump through his bronze sculptures.
Joseph G. Sassine has a double life, each as illustrious as the other. In his institutional and economic role, he was the director of Banque du Liban. But now his creative persona has taken over, transforming clay, jute, glass, soda cans and staples into works that have earned their place at the Arab World Institute and Sotheby’s auction house.
A pioneer of Palestinian art and digital art in general, Samia Halaby is somewhat of an icon. At 88 years old, she graces her admiring fans in Beirut with both a cameo at the Sfeir-Semler gallery and with the new exhibition she was there to unveil, “Abstraction in Motion,” which will be running for the next two months.
In a city that’s seen its fair share of destruction, the 12th–14th-century Bab Qinnasrin Palace has somehow survived largely intact. Architects Michel Charrière and Joseph Ashkar returned to Aleppo after 15 years to find their restoration project standing; Clara Hage captures their reaction.
Iran negotiator vows 'decisive' response to US-Israeli attack