Art as Freedom: A Personal Essay
Under the shade of beautiful trees, a vibrant blue beetle car finds its spot on the streets of Jbeil. Photo courtesy of Emma Jowdy. For as long as I can remember, I have always had an interest in art, specifically photography. As I got older, the urge to capture moments, people and memories grew stronger. […]
Finding Freedom through Music: Spillage Village’s “Hapi”
The illustration draws inspiration from the song “Hapi” by Spillage Village, featured on their album “Spilligion”. Artwork courtesy of Jaimee Haddad We can’t have a conversation about freedom without acknowledging those who came before us and fought against a myriad of oppressions we cannot fathom. The perseverance of the women in our lineage, the challenges […]
Promeneuses
Photo Courtesy of Cynthia Ghoussoub Today, earlier, I strolled through a strike, erupting into smoke, shouting banderoles and songs and messages to organized governance persevering to destroy, and parading in a closed circle tightly knits trumpets and brass, before they trudged past one by one, red flag after purple flag after rainbow flag after military […]
Zeid Hamdan: the Power of Music in Love & Politics
Credits: Zeid Hamdan playing his guitar – Photo Courtesy of Sachyn Mital Foreword: I met Zeid Hamdan by pure coincidence as I was volunteering at a French music festival in Paris. Looking at the line-up, I noticed a Middle Eastern duo called Bedouin Burger and after researching them, discovered that the musician Zeid Hamdan, was […]
The Three Stooges – Escapism, Hedonism, and the Lebanese Nightlife
Credits: Light shining on rock formations during Resonate by The Ballroom Blitz, The first 2 day solo outdoor festival. Feytroun, Lebanon, 2022. Photo Courtesy of Stephani Moukhaiber. Feytroun, Lebanon, Summer 2022. Somewhere in between the region’s most amazing rock formations with mere hours separating us from sunrise, an arm extended itself over the crowd […]
Rasha Hamade: Two Years With Grief
“Since August 4th, 2020, 6:07 pm, no survivor of the Beirut blastperceives life the same way they did before. I find it therapeutic to create and live this continuous grief next to others who share similar yet contrasting experiences. I gathered the experiences of survivors living in Lebanon or part of the diaspora and channeled […]
Fann w Fenjen: Yasmine Darwiche
Foreword Yasmine Darwiche is a freelance graphic designer and illustrator based in Beirut. We came to appreciate Yasmine’s illustrations during the early days of the Lebanese Revolution in 2019 and have since fallen in love with her visual illustrative style. Her Arabian style is, to use her own words, “a way to document and […]
Preserving Beirut Through Dia Mrad’s Lens
Credits: “6AM Splurge” from “The Silos Series” (2021) Photo courtesy of Dia Mrad A qualified architect but photographer by profession, Dia Mrad has taken on a career animating Beirut’s old buildings. Using photography as a medium, Dia narrates an often overlooked aspect of Lebanon’s history through his photography, immortalizing Beirut’s heritage and putting its rich […]
In a Convex Mirror: An Exploration of Caramel and Its Proximity to Reality
Al Rawiya Discussions: Panel Event With The Team Behind The Movie “Death of a Virgin, and The Sin of Not Living”
https://al-rawiya.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/DOAV-Panel-wSubtitles.mp4 Al Rawiya’s first panel, to kick-start a series of events under “Al Rawiya Discussions” with the movie writer and director George Peter Barbari and the producers from “Bee On Set Producers” Reine Semaan, and Christelle Younes, as they relay to us how their movie “Death of a Virgin, and The Sin of Not Living” […]