Lebanon, Lost Love...
A deep anger and sadness weigh on me in these days of war. After Palestine, Israel’s attack on Lebanon adds a heavy burden to the hope for a better future for our world.
A deep anger and sadness drain my thoughts in these days of war. After Palestine, Israel’s attack and invasion of Lebanon add a heavy burden to the hope for a better future for the people of our world.
Below you will find memories, drawings, and comics that connect me to Lebanon; while we wait, all we have left are the memories...
October 11, 2011
Wandering aimlessly through the city, gazing at people, veiled women, Romani, traffic, and honking horns. Spectacular skyscrapers. Keep walking… you really have to court this Beirut to be loved by her, but she’s a tough one to win over.
In the evening, I go out with a Lebanese friend, Nadim Tarazi. We talk about comics and politics, the perfect conversation. Who is Nadim Tarazi? He was the bookseller of the only comic bookstore in Beirut for many years, an expert in children’s publishing, and founder of the Maison du Livre in Beirut in 2002, an association for the promotion of books and reading.
The Maison du Livre organizes local exhibitions, participates in international fairs, publishes a critical magazine on children’s literature, and is involved in professional training in the book sector. It also offers continuing education and has launched a professional master’s program at Saint-Joseph University in Beirut. An interesting figure, to say the least. I met him by chance one evening in Bologna thanks to a mutual friend, and from there came the exhibition I curated with Elettra for Komikazen, “Cedars in Comics: Artists from Lebanon.” (“Cedri a fumetti: disegnatori dal Libano”)
Before heading back, we take a night stroll along the Corniche. Continue
The phone rings at 7:30 AM, a mistake… I try to sleep, I get up. The city outside awaits me; it’s Sunday, an unreal calm. I take a taxi to the Jeitaqui neighborhood to go to the Kahraba Collective. I am here today; I must draw. There are four Italians and four Lebanese: Jana Traboulisi, Barrack Rima, Gianluca Costantini, Fadi Adleh, Allegra Corbo, Hala Dabaji, Vito Manolo Roma. My Lebanese partner is Barrack Rima, born in Tripoli, Lebanon, but living in Brussels. I don’t speak English, but after a brief moment of hesitation, we understand each other well. I suggest drawing simultaneously on the same sheet; he agrees. He proposes we walk the streets and draw; I’m in. Continue
Baalbek resonates with lovers of archaeological sites as the UNESCO-listed ancient Heliopolis. The postcard image of this place opens an imaginary dialogue between a father and son, intertwining the tradition of the present, as Hezbollah’s stronghold.
Baalbek, bombed in 2006 by Israel due to its agricultural and manufacturing industries, saw much of its population emigrate in the following years, either for safety reasons or because they lost their jobs, as the factories were destroyed by the neighbor’s F16s. Since 2015, it has been under the watch of the Lebanese army due to its proximity to Syria, and the region now hosts about 140,000 refugees from the war-torn neighboring country. Costantini continues his mission to give voice to those who silence others, and even to himself, in the futile hope for a different future. Continue
Original publication:
This publication is part of a work by artist Akram Zaatari that makes men and women reenact poses from photographs of children. Two adults – a man and a woman – are photographed and videotaped while reenacting the same pose. Continue
Published by Mind the gap in 1998
32 pages (16 pages with fold-outs), 12 × 16 cm
Destruction:
All the drawings here
As part of the integrated project of the Polo del ‘900 Polo internazionale, Being Twenty in Syria and Lebanon, the Balkans, Egypt, and Turkey, for the series Being Twenty in Syria and Lebanon, the Nocentini Foundation and the Salvemini Institute present the event Laura Cappon meets Lena Merhej. Moderated by Gianluca Costantini.
Saturday, November 27 at 5:30 PM, streaming on the Facebook and YouTube channels of the Polo del ‘900.
Translated by Nicolas Quendoz.
Lena Merhej was born in Beirut in 1977 to a German mother and a Lebanese father. After studying graphic arts, she became an illustrator of picture books and comics. She has written and illustrated over 25 titles and, together with her group Samandal, founded the first fanzine and comic book publisher in the Arab world. She taught illustration and animation at AUB (American University of Beirut) and continues her research in an interdisciplinary field that lies between graphic arts, narratology, and new technologies. Her first comic book I Think We’ll Be Better Prepared for the Next War (2006) was the best-selling book in Lebanon in 2007, and her comics have received numerous international awards. She was the director of the Beirut Animated Festival and worked with Tosh Fesh to promote comics and animation in Arab countries.
Lebanese activist and publisher Lokman Slim, a fierce critic of Hezbollah, was found shot dead in his car on Thursday morning.
Slim’s body was moved to a government hospital in the southern city of Sidon, where the pathologist said he was shot four times in the head and once in the back, according to the National News Agency.
Slim was found in a rental car at around 7 am on a quiet road seldom travelled by local residents, between the villages of Tufahta and Addousiyeh in south Lebanon. Continue
On 2017 November 4, the Lebanese Prime Minister leaves his post from Riyadh, accusing Hezbollah. Were the resignations voluntary or extorted by the hosts? The crisis seems to be a prelude to a showdown between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Then comes the return home, as if nothing had happened. But what really happened? Read the entire comic
On December of 2009, and with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture as part of “Beirut Book Capital of the World”, Samandal put out its 7th anthology in collaboration with the Belgian publishing house, L’employé du Moi, with further support from the French Cultural Center (CCF) in Beirut and the Belgian Ministry of Culture in Brussels. This publication was the fruit of a year-long collaboration between comic artists in Lebanon and their partners in Belgium, spanning several lectures and workshops, and launched at an exhibition at the CCF with the help of the UNESCO fund.
Four months later, three of the four Samandal editors that worked on that book were charged by the public attorney with a) inciting sectarian strife b) denigrating religion c) publishing false news and d) defamation and slander.
After five years of legal proceedings, we were found guilty on the basis of article 25 of the publications law, and on April 28, 2015 we were fined 10,000,000 LL each ($20,000 in total), equal to two years and nine months in jail on failure of payment. This incrimination, instigated by religious institutions and sustained by the state, has crippled Samandal and threatens to bring our decade-long career in comics to an end. Continue
The almost Dantean Trilogy tells of a word and its related drawing that one day decide to embark on a long journey. The word and the drawing are born in the depths of Black hell. In the darkness, words and drawings mix, search for each other, fall to the ground, get lost, and find each other again. The word ماي (water) finds its drawing and they get lost heading towards the sea. Air that leads to the sea! They enter Red purgatory: two cities, one big and one small, a universe made up of the colors of light. The drawing and the word have become a little girl who, to leave purgatory, follows the road to the sea. The drawing and the word will find space in White paradise to rest on the façade of an ordinary building. Continue
Les Rencontres de la BD sont nées d’une double envie : Faire un petit tour dans la BD européenne actuelle et réfléchir à l’avenir de la BD libanaise. C’était en 2007. Ce projet a Pu voir le jour, à l’occasion de Beyrouth capitale mondiale du livre 2009, qui l’a choisi comme un de ses project phares.
Le reste s’est fait naturellement.
La Mission culturelle Française au Liban a accompagne le projet depuis Sto arrivando! conception. Elle l’a même intégré dans le cadre de son programme « Point ligne bulle », autour de l’illustration. Charles Berberian et Pierre Duba sonf ses invites.
Grâce a l’Institut culturel italien, la participation italienne est consistante D’abord par deux expositions, la première sur la nouvelle vague italienne, la seconde sur le travail fait par Elettra Stamboulis et Gianluca Costantini autour d’un pionnier du 19° siècle, Osman Hamdi. Ils sonf accompagnés par Paolo Bacilieri.
Par ailleurs, c’esf gràce à l’association Mirada qu’a pu avoir lieu la première exposition collective des bédéistes libanais Italie et en Grèce, présentée à Beyrouth pour la première fois.
L’apport de Next page Foundation est important: partie avec l’idee de venir à 2, elle a finalement invité une delegation de 12 personnes de plusieurs horizons : Bulgarie, Serbie, Croatie , Tchèquie. Ceci a contribué à donner le ton des Rencontres
La présence libanaise est également intéressante, avec Zeina Abirached, les dessinateurs de I’ALBA et l’equipe de Samandal. Nous ne doutons pas que cette semaine permettra la découverte de nouveaux talents libanais. Continue | Photos