by jad

Bride of Beirut

This is “Bride of Beirut,” a sculpture that sits “just 675 meters away from the epicenter of the August 4, 2020 Beirut port blast” and commemorates that tragic event with rubble and debris salvaged from the site. It was inspired by the designer’s harrowing experience of fearing for a loved one’s safety that day: “For 10 minutes we didn’t know what was happening because there was no cellular connection.” I hadn’t heard of this artwork when I stumbled on it on my last day in Beirut and found it arresting, though oddly arranged. Like something was missing. The installation had … Continue reading “Bride of Beirut” →

by jad

Must It Be? It Must.

Before heading to Lebanon, I wondered about how it’d feel to see just how much of what I’d known had changed, and Christine wondered back: how will it feel to see how much of what I’d known is still the same? The answer to both those wonderings was “yes.” Yes, a lot has changed, and much of it saddened me, but shockingly a lot had not. Even my old haunts in Mar Mikhael, so badly affected in the blast, still feature familiar sites and names, despite it all. This gladdened my heart. So many had bounced back. And Hamra, more … Continue reading “Must It Be? It Must.” →

by jad

New Year’s Eve, 2023

There’s been an odd circularity to this year; an ouroboros of inner work that opened and is now closing the year on themes of loving others more deeply by tending more gently to oneself. Lully, lulla,thou little tiny child,by by, lully lullay. That hymn made me weep on the First of January and today, on the Thirty-First of December, the symmetry was not lost on me when I was asked to read these lines from a once-familiar lectern: “Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”” … Continue reading “New Year’s Eve, 2023” →

by jad

Christine’s Project: Mizyara

Today, I had the privilege of visiting a most unique shrine with the most touching story, a living tribute to not just one saint, but two—Maria Goretti and her unlikely acolyte, Raya Chidiac. It was an honor to be greeted by Raya’s mother, Marie, who has made it her ministry to share St. Goretti’s message of universal forgiveness through the heartbreak of losing her daughter Raya in a cruel parallel across centuries. And when she says “through” Raya, she means it quite literally: it was Raya who came to a stranger in a dream, asking for a shrine to be … Continue reading “Christine’s Project: Mizyara” →

by jad

Christine’s Project: Beirut

“Beirut, I want to escape you, only to crawl back a few days later and embrace you.” These are a couple of digicam test shots from this morning’s shoot with my sister @staceybkl who so kindly took part in @christine.bingham.art‘s ongoing photo-documentation project of her “saints in the mirror.” Don’t tell anyone that I didn’t bring my Fuji’s charger and was rationing shots on a single bar of battery all day. Oops! Thankfully, we still managed to make it happen thanks to Stacey and Antoun!

by jad

Hamra Haunts

We’re spending a couple of nights in one of my old haunts which oddly feels pretty much exactly how I’d left it, despite a lot having changed. There’s a Hamra Express where Dany’s Pub once was, and the patronage seems to have aged by several decades, but that’s about it – the vibes are still classically Hamra. As seen through my Canon PowerShot A710IS, straight out of camera. See also: x

by jad

Re-Witnessing Lebanon

I asked @ouroboros.community what the cosmic soup had cooking for me, and this is what she said: “You are closing the calendar year with a gorgeous full moon in your sixth house of day-to-day life, work, and health. Even though the world wants us to make New Year’s resolutions, the transits currently want us to reflect on the past. How far have you come regarding these areas? How much do you feel supported by your community?” x I found my old #CanonPowerShot A710IS while rummaging through boxes at my parent’s place and was pleasantly surprised to see a bunch of … Continue reading “Re-Witnessing Lebanon” →

by jad

Merry Christmas from Lebanon

Merry Christmas from the land of prophets and profiteers; a country with too many shrines but not enough saints. Merry Christmas from the place that sane people go to lose their minds, according to my grandma. She said I haven’t changed one bit. “”But when will you make your mother a teta?” Merry Christmas from the room Ma Sœur said there’s nothing to photograph. Swipe to see where she took me to take photos instead. Merry Christmas from our abandoned ancestral home. My uncle had big plans for this place my whole life. It still looks exactly the same: like … Continue reading “Merry Christmas from Lebanon” →

by jad

Asteroid City

“But you can’t wake up if you don’t fall asleep So go live your dreams and live them real deep. There is some countin’ money and there’s some countin’ sheep. Oh, you can’t wake up if you don’t fall asleep – If you don’t fall asleep.” (Jarvis Cocker) I watched ‘Asteroid City’ on the ten-hour flight to Frankfurt coming here, and I don’t think I was fully awake to fully grasp it, but I think it’s a movie about grief and purpose and the stories we let ourselves to find purpose in grief, or grief in purpose, etc. “Asteroid City … Continue reading “Asteroid City” →

by jad

Welcome to Lebanon

After something like five and a half years and twenty-four hours of travel, I’m back. My luggage isn’t though, so here’s a liminal space for this liminal time as we wait to hear about the fate of half the aircraft’s baggage that also didn’t make it. “We had more solidarity with random strangers in one hour than on most days in Canada,”” said a young traveler to their mother, with admirable optimism. “Welcome to Lebanon,” their mother had told us while we scrambled to figure out what was going on. We laughed and said: “We’re going to hear that a … Continue reading “Welcome to Lebanon” →