BEIRUT NARRATIVES is a concept that was born 20 days after the double explosion -one of the most powerful non-nuclear explosions in history- which ripped Beirut to shreds on August 4th, 2020. People were asked to write their testimonials in Arabic, French or English and send pictures and kids’ drawings describing their personal experiences. THE OBJECTIVE was to gather as many narratives as possible from diverse profiles and recognize them in a commemorative project. Whether near or far, we all lived it differently but intensely-residents, healthcare workers, expats, people from different age groups, different background. Each person’s story matters.
We, co-founders of Architecture et Mechanisms, envision the first phase of the project as an URBAN INSTALLATION that is split into different fragments travelling to different locations, before merging into one oversized fabric. Its PRIME CONTENT is words and sentences chosen from the testimonials we collected as well as other forms of visual art: illustrations, paintings, collages, drawings or sketches relevant to the blast. People are invited to add on to it every time it is placed somewhere by sending their testimonials and illustrations to the common mailbox; we will integrate their stories by stitching them to the existing fragments.
After analyzing the texts, we dissected them into different parameters: descriptions, emotions and reflections. The words and sentences chosen are sprayed, using a color code legend, onto differently sized jute canvases which are modules of 50 x 50 cm (depending on their length). Canvases relevant to the same testimonial are stitched using a fishing line plastic wire, the same technique healthcare workers use to stitch people’s wounds. Testimonials sewn one onto one another or testimonials sewn to illustrations are embroidered using white fabric extracted from recycled t-shirts. This way we are able to build many canvases we call “fragments” that can be either placed horizontally on the floor or hanged on façades of buildings. Acting like tapestries or billboards, these fragments give silent speech power, remind people of the apocalyptic experience, and slowly heals the city and its urban fabric by stitching narratives one to the other.
The GOAL is to unify unheard voices and build a national project that includes residents and children as collaborators as well as established illustrators and artists. The city becomes their canvas, their space of expression. The intention of this installation is to solidify our collective consciousness; it first started growing locally since May 2021 and is now mushrooming onto different building facades within the coming few months. Later on it will travel beyond the Lebanese borders in order to engage with expats communities and also show the rest of the world what we all witnessed and went through during that devastating August the 4 th, 2020 at 6.08 pm.
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