Does our Lebanese identity fade with the excess of corruption?
Opinion analysis by Razan Abu Ismail, Contributor
May 29th, 2020
In a country where our history remains to be the subject of dispute , I believe it was the local artists who shaped the Lebanese identity.
It was the rich photography, film, music, poetry, dance, portraits, and performances that survived long enough to tell us the stories of who we are and who we can be. To me, Lebanon is the center of art and artists. For as long as I could remember, the art culture was a major component of the Lebanese identity. Growing up abroad, I was taught all that I needed to know about Lebanon through Marcel Khalife’s music, Pierre Sadek’s caricature, Nadine Labaki’s movies, and Ziad Rahbani’s plays.
It was the artists and photographers in downtown Beirut that reinstated my love and passion for the city and its art every time I visited Lebanon. It was their drawings and images that captured the liveliness of the city that solidified my love that continues to grow . It was the breathtaking performances I watched at Sunflower Theater and Al Madina Theater that showed me the wittiness of the Lebanese people that never ceased even while discussing sensitive topics and themes. It was the stunning museums and art galleries like Sursock Museum, The Place That Remains Photo Gallery as well as the ruins of The Metropole Cinema that taught me what I needed to know about the history of the city. Through art, I was able to become aware of my country’s history and culture, instilling in me the belief, which I carry with me to this day - that Lebanon is a beautiful and progressive country rooted in rich creativity and passionate people.
However, since the beginning of the uprisings, the government’s control in limiting people’s freedom of speech has become clearer than ever. This control comes in the form of threats or attacks against the artists who create political content criticizing the government potentially. The fact is that these artists are creating and sharing content with the purpose of raising awareness and arguably inspire people to pursue change. The people who refuse to be chained by the government’s limitations and continue to enrich Beirut’s culture range from the bands playing at Metro Al Madina to the caricatures of The Art Of Boo, along with the art designs of Nourie Flayhan.
Even the graffiti artists who decorated the streets of Beirut and the brilliant photographers who constantly share important messages across all social media platforms have had a large role to play. Toufic Rmeiti, a photojournalist documenting the uprisings, had a lot of great insight to share with The Phoenix Daily exclusively. “Everyone in Lebanon is feeling the same pain all together, except some people practice their rights for freedom of speech but others choose to stay silent” says Toufic.
Photo by Toufic Rmeiti
“This is where my photography takes place, to open up a conversation. For example, when I take a picture of someone screaming on the streets of the revolution, some people might be feeling the same way but are still at home. However, when they see it online it sparks hope in them and opens up a conversation” further notes Toufic.
Nour Annan, a writer and interdisciplinary artist tells The Phoenix Daily that she believes “that the relationship between art and culture goes both ways: art influences culture, and culture influences art. All art can influence change and be political. It taps into people’s thoughts and feelings, and can inspire some to question their beliefs or support a particular cause”. She further told The Phoenix Daily that she had once “worked on a documentary performance about a sex trafficking scandal that happened in Lebanon. Although the audience could not interfere with the court of law, their opinions and beliefs were shifted and explored through the performance. I think it is a great example of encouraging change".
While working on this documentary, Annan noted that “the director always said, even if one person left the room changed, then we had done our job".
Artists speak their truth, they document what they see is truly happening through a mix of authenticity and creativity. Subsequently, the true Lebanese identity lives on for generations to come, regardless of all the limitations the government inflicts on them, they refuse to let go of their truth.
Other than being a main factor in enriching our culture, the Lebanese art community can also enrich our economy.
I am confident that if the art industry in Lebanon was to be well utilized, it could make the country the epicenter for modern art in the Middle East, whereby art could act as a source of income by attracting tourists and investors. Unfortunately, the government doesn’t tend to invest in the Lebanese art scene, as artists in Lebanon do not have proper art spaces nor the proper tools and resources. Alex El Dahdah is a passionate Lebanese artist and filmmaker who tends to focus on themes related to identity. He uses his art to support the ones excluded from our society, especially when it comes to representing the queer community from a nonwestern point of view.
“All Lebanese investors tend to finance are useless buildings and retail stores, and the government barely does anything to stop them or encourage them to redistribute this money on other projects that could enrich our community, like supporting the arts for example”, he notes to The Phoenix Daily, “this in turn feeds into consumerism, rather than benefiting proper art spaces that could support and grow our community”.
This highlights the lack of care towards the art community, and if that weren’t enough, artists in Lebanon don’t have governmental representation or a proper artist association nor syndicates. The fact is that the only official governmental association artists have in Lebanon is the general security branch for censorship, which just oversees different scripts and contents to make sure they don’t violate laws in regards to the policies on freedom of expression set out in the penal codes and other legal frameworks.
However, all this hasn’t stopped artists from being creative when it comes to creating and sharing their work. With minimum art spaces and budgets, the creative minds of the Lebanese artists never failed in utilizing spaces and speaking the truth to encourage a progressive community. From using social media platforms to share content, to performances in the midst of the revolution square, to using unconventional spaces, such as the streets and abandoned buildings of the city, the art community in Lebanon still manages to make do with what they have to get their messages across.
My favorite examples of how artists still manage to succeed in Lebanon regardless of the governmental limitations, is when the band ‘The Great Departed’ (Al Rahel Al Kabeer) managed to put on a show in the middle of the ‘revolution square’ to entertain and motivate people to keep this fight for change. Moreover, long before the uprisings, Director Sahar Assaf, used the streets of Beirut as her stage and created the promenade production of Watch Your Step, where she projected the true history of Beirut and the war’s continued impact on our society.
The profound impact art and artists have had on our history and identity continues to be disregarded. Even with its ability to amass a huge amount of money, the art scene remains underfunded. Why is that? The answer lies in the country’s corrupt system and political propaganda. Lynn Hodeib a creative art therapist, performer and musician says “I witnessed how the Lebanese government censors any mention of the past involving the crimes committed by the warlords who govern Lebanon's sectarian and clienteles’ system up to this day. I believe any work of art that fights against the censorship imposed by this 40-year-old regime is vital for things to change”. Similarly, Firas Haidar, a filmmaker who works in photography and videography says “What the government is doing is not only not enough but also hurting us because of lack of funding and excess of censorship, making it very difficult for artists to thrive. Due to the fact that we have a lot of different religious sects and beliefs in Lebanon, it’s been tough getting the people to emphasize and understand each other, but film would help us see Lebanon as more of a united front and make us see how we are all more are less the same, through images on the screen, the dialogue, the story...”.
Political “leaders” in Lebanon have an agenda and they will stop at nothing until they fulfill it, even if it means deteriorating the Lebanese culture and everything it stands for. This limitation on freedom of speech has put boundaries on our culture, as we are unable to express ourselves and our ideologies through artistic mediums, and those who dare to do so must face severe repercussions.