This work was created as an interactive installation at Villa Empain, Brussels, Belgium. In this work, I presented a mural entirely of charcoal, a charred landscape that awaits collective engagement. Using an eraser, the audience was invited to take part in a process of “creation through destruction”. They tackle the darkness, each with their own efforts, embodying an attempt to correct the paths and choices that we have taken. Whiteness starts to emerge and morph the surface, slowly, to reveal something altogether new.
In Lebanon, black is no longer a metaphor; it is a reality. Those who remain, spiral in darkness and narrowing states of existence. The dream, if any, has become simply to leave. Yet, in leaving, we do not feel liberated. We become like seagulls wandering with broken compasses, suspended between the two blues.

‘It’s not black or white’ reflects Lebanon’s socio-political paralysis that has depleted the nation. The compounding of crises: a stumped revolution, an incarcerating economic collapse, a pandemic, and the largest non-nuclear explosion of this century have plunged the country into total darkness.
It’s been over a year since the blast, yet we still feel deprived of the chance to fix and mend Lebanon’s path.

Blackness is still pervasive.