Amidst violent Israeli bombardment in Lebanon, the Lebanese artist Abed Al Kadiri is offering dozens of displaced children a “safe white space" to express themselves artistically and collaborate on a large wartime mural piece that he hopes will one day be shown to the public. Born in Beirut, Al Kadiri has been displaced four times as a result of the Iran-Israel conflict, which directly affected Lebanon, particularly in the south and parts of the Lebanese capital, in early March. Last month, Al Kadiri was in his Beirut studio with his son, when a nearby hotel was attacked. “There was a street between us and we’ve been on a journey of displacement ever since," Al Kadiri told Vogue Arabia.
Al Kadiri's work has for the most part been a visual response to major political events, crises and clashes in the region, including the August 4 Beirut port explosion in 2020, the 2023 genocide in Gaza, and the 2024 conflict in Lebanon. And now, the war has got him going again. They led him to create "Today I Would Like to Be a Tree," a series of emotionally-charged charcoal murals. "The best refuge and way of expression that I use is art. I couldn’t be passive in such a situation and just live through this crisis. It’s a kind of therapy that helps reduce the injustice and destruction that I’m living through," he said.
On the night when the attacks intensified, Al Kadiri and his son were drawing in his studio, where they were "able to detach from what was happening in the outside world," he said. "When the whole world around us is burning, a canvas becomes a safe space where we release our emotional and psychological projection. It holds all these emotions and thoughts." It was an activity that sparked an idea of engaging with displaced children in schools and centres in Lebanon. Al Kadiri said he was "paralysed" by the situation and felt he couldn't make an artwork on his own. "I was seeing the displaced in the streets, sheltering inside tents by the corniche in Beirut. I was thinking about children, whose faces stayed with me the most. There were a couple of days where I was dreaming of their faces," added Al Kadiri.
Al Kadiri has so far held drawing sessions in six institutions, including Baissour Official Secondary School and Choueifat Cultural and Social Centre, where children and their families are seeking shelter. They are all invited to draw on long rolls of paper, which has proven to be a joyous and liberating experience for the children. “It’s a safe white space that allows them to express themselves freely about their sadness, their pain, their joy, their dreams," he said. Among the most common motifs found in their drawings are the Lebanese flags, natural elements, and their homes. "They’re far away from their homes and they're living in harsh conditions. The situation is really hard and tragic," said Al Kadiri. "But there is something exceptional about children, which is their ability to overcome difficulty and be happy in the moment. That’s what we lose as we get older."
After each session, every child is given colouring tools, notebooks and drawing pads to keep, which were personally financed and provided by Al Kadiri. He also called upon his artist friends to make donations that would benefit the children and their families. According to Al Kadiri, over 300 children have been involved in the project and he hopes to reach 1,000 children. There is also an aim to have the murals exhibited and turned into leperello books, acting as a form of documentation and a reminder of how genuine artistic expression can prevail in the hardest of times. The exhibition and book sales will benefit the children and their families.
