"Visible"

Title: “Visible”

Materials: Red clay, waste materials firing (rusted steel dust, wood ash, wood saw dust, shredded paper)

Date: 2018

33rd Salon d'Automne

Sursock Museum

“Refuse containers are overturned in front of the Environment Ministry by Lebanese activists who demand the Environment Minister Mohammed Machnouk resign due to the ongoing rubbish crisis in Beirut, Lebanon, on 15 September 2015 (AA)”

http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/beyond-garbage-crisis-lebanon-defining-moment-1641444107

“Visible” captures that moment when protesters took to the streets of Beirut in September 2015 and overturned the garbage bins. The “Sukleen” canisters that represent the object we have designed to hold our waste, when turned over their side, or top down, they become a sign of protest, a symbol of the unresolved garbage crisis that still lingers on since 2015 in Lebanon.

When the bins are no longer used to collect our trash, our waste becomes visible, revealed, and we are face to face with the quantity of garbage we produce daily. We got used to throwing our waste into a bin. Not asking what happens to it afterwards. As if the bin was its final destination. As if it was there that it all ended. By not dealing with our waste on a daily and individual basis, we are disconnected from it. We do not realize the amounts produced. And when it has no place to go, it starts to accumulate in front of our eyes.Beyond the protest, the crises revealed a bigger problem, triggered a new awareness: It made the trash visible. To eliminate it, fire was often used. The “Visible” canisters are burnt using a similar process: waste materials such as rusted steel dust, wood ash, wood saw dust and shredded paper become the combustibles for firing the clay canisters. “Visible” is the reminder that the waste crisis can only be solved once we truly see the problem.

Beirut Urban Ruins “save it on paper”

BEYt Amir

Plan Bey

November 2017

Many old houses in Beirut are threatened by demolition. Oftentimes owners are financially incapable of restoring them, and developers are eager to clear them out to make room for money-generating, soulless buildings. However, even in their neglected state, the importance of these houses as testaments to Beirut’s urban history remains apparent.

In Ras-Beirut, old houses are mostly abandoned urban ruins. Some are scattered, dwarfed between new high-rise buildings; others still survive in clusters. Some are on main roads, others hidden at the heart of a street block. However, all are “invisible” to the passer-by, abandoned due to their derelict state. They seem to be “turned off”. In most cases nature has taken over with overgrown trees and uninvited spontaneous plants growing out of walls and balconies.

In mid-2016, I began making watercolor sketches of these abandoned houses. These sketches were done obsessively and daily and were shared on social media with three recurring, original hashtags: #beirutyellowhouses #beiruturbanruins and #saveitonpaper

The process is first the act of “seeing” these houses; discovering them among the surrounding high buildings that overshadow them. Second, singling out each house as a distinct entity by erasing its actual urban surrounding; stressing the spectral presence of those old buildings as remainder and reminder of the old urban fabric of Beirut. It is an attempt to imagine a city that no longer exists.

The objective is to raise awareness and "save” these houses on paper. It is to engrave their memory in my mind and in our collective memory. To enforce their presence and highlight their character.

Sketching these houses is a form of meditation where concentration is total and attention is directed fully towards one subject. This is a state where, for a fleeting moment, the subject and the sketcher are one.

آثار بيروت المدينية

"لتحفظ على الورق"

هناك عدد كبير من البيوت القديمة في بيروت مرشحة للزوال. في معظم الأوقات أصحاب تلك البيوت يعجزون عن الحفاظ عليها والتجار يتوقون إلى تنحية تلك المباني كي يقيموا العمارات التجارية الشاهقة. برغم ذلك، تبقى تلك المباني شاهدا على تاريخ المدينة المعماري.

معظم المباني القديمة في رأس بيروت هي آثار مهملة . بعضها موزع، متوار بين المباني الشاهقة، و بعضها الآخر لا يزال قائما في تجمعات.  بعضها موزع على طرق عامة و سواه متوار داخل الأحياء. على كل، كل تلك البيوت متوارية عن أنظار العابرين، و مهملة لأنها لم تعدصالحة للسكن.  كأنما قد هجرتها الحياة، فحلت مكانها الأشجار البرية.

في العام ٢٠١٦ بدأت أرسم تلك البيوت المهملة. العملية التي أقوم بها تبدأ بتحديد تلك البيوت من بين المباني الطاغية بحجمها. ثانيا أستفرد هذه البيوت عن سواها من المباني المحيطة بها. و هذه محاولة لتخيل مدينة زائلة.

أما الغاية فهي لفت الإنتباه إلى ما يحدث من تحولات و حفظ هذه البيوت على الورق، حفرها في ذاكرتي و الذاكرة الجماعية لتثبيت وجودها و الإضاءة على خصوصياتها.

إن رسم تلك البيوت هو نوع من التأمل و الإنتباه مركز على حالة واحدة. إنها حالة حيث، للحظات، تلتقي المادة بمن يقوم بتسجيلها

“Alchemy: When clay turns into wood”

Earthen-wear - Ceramic Collective Exhibition

dehab jewellery gallery - Beirut - April 2018

“Alchemy"  الكيمياء

Merriam-Webster dictionary:

noun

“ a power or process that changes or transforms something in a mysterious or impressive way ”

Process: For the past 4 years I have been experimenting with marble pottery, mixing two types of clay to produce a single piece. The combination often creates surprises in the way the two clays come together when dry and after the first firing: merging or separating. I have also been exploring different firing techniques. Fire being at the root of alchemy, the milk firing technique used on this piece is intended to bring out the veins of the clay, magically transforming it into wood.

Tanmia Headquarters

Client: Tanmia
Hazmieh - SEPT 2014 - 2016


The design deviates from the traditional corporate office by emphasizing openness yet allowing for confidentiality where needed. Within a semi-open-plan layout, and while providing the required closed offices, small sound proof “pods” travel within the space, accommodating additional closed spaces for meeting, brain storming, shouting or meditating. These “pods” can be shared by different staff members depending on their needs. Double glazed glass walls enhance the openness of the office while providing the levels of privacy.
The new Tanmia office accommodates the needs for both privacy and interaction, promoting efficiency in terms of the use of space while boosting staff productivity as well as their sense of community. Reminding the users as well as the visitors of its most important values, etched on the walls and glass partitions, it also brings us closer to nature by providing greenery in many forms.

"Transference"

ATHR, 5TH EDITION OF 21,39 

"…And The Clocks Were Striking Thirteen " exhibition

Jeddah, February 2018

Clay, Earthenware

192x336 cm

… "the transference, which, whether affectionate or hostile, seemed in every case to constitute the greatest threat to the treatment, becomes its best tool"

Freud, S.

Today, 27 years after the Lebanese war stopped, many unresolved issues remain present. I am one of the lucky survivors. However I carry, buried deep inside of me, a feeling of loss.

In the same way that the death of a close friend’s parent can trigger one’s tears and grief over one’s own personal loss, by transference, the Syrian conflict has unleashed my feelings and my desire to express my frustration with the Lebanese war, the Syrian war, and wars in general.

I worked on the “qobqab”, the Syrian sabot, as a symbol to represent the absence, the loss. The loss of a culture, of an artisan’s society, of tradition, of a human being, of life.

Traditionally, these slippers are exposed by being hung on shop walls in the souks of Damascus or Aleppo. I chose that same way to exhibit the 144 clay “qobqab” to form a “memorial wall”, reminding us that wars never end with winners but only with victims.

“Cinderella’s slipper” or “Qobqab”

MACAM "Age of Ceramics Competition,
June 2017, first prize
Red and white clay, earthenware, milk fired