SYNOPSIS AND POSITION
The project offers reflections on violence by constructing narratives as a form of everyday life archives, as an ambitious alternative for writing the unwritten spatial history of Lebanon. By framing reflections and personal experiences of 10 individuals associated with different forms of violence in Beirut and setting an innovative archival methodology starting from the Beirut port explosion as the main massive tragic event it explores the series of recurring crises before and after the explosion. Its narrative and visualization has the power to reveal connected stories, enhance understanding of current and previous events/crisis and reduce exacerbated conflict within and between ethnic-sectarian groups to ambitiously co-produce potential manifesto for action and change.
OBJECTIVES AND METHODS
In the post-war era of Lebanon, history remain in conflicting fragmentation and the call for a unitary textbook continues to be a catalyst for sectarian clashes and mono-ethnic centrism. The project is an attempt to be a catalyser for writing the unwritten history of Lebanon by presenting individuals’ narratives, revealing their connected stories, enhancing the understanding of current and previous events/crises, and eventually reducing exacerbated conflict within and between ethnic/sectarian groups.
The Project succeeded in documenting and analysing peoples’ traumatic responses and coping mechanisms within the framework of an egalitarian archival practice that respected multiple, convergent/divergent narratives and individuals’ experiences, ultimately to ambitiously co-produce a potential manifesto for action and change.
WORKSHOPS AND EVENTS
- 30th July 2021 Project extension draft proposal to Imagining Future by Camillo Boano and Hanadi Samhan
- 27th August 2021: Confirmation of Award Letter
- 13th September 2021: Team Introductory Meeting – Introduction & Tasks Assignments
- 18th October 2021: Workshop, Framing violence – Team Discussions & Follow-ups
- 8th November 2021: Lifelines workshop – Team Discussions & Follow-ups
- 20th December 2021: Project lead review and comments
- 4th January 2022: Project Draft Report Submission
- 19th January 2022: Project Draft Report Submission
ACTIVITIES
September, November, December 2021 & January 2022:
- Logo Design & Project Naming: Research, Analysis and Design of the Project Logo, agreement on the Project Logo and Naming.
- Events / Crises: Desk-based online research about the series of crises / events that occurred in Lebanon starting: 2005 the date of assassination of PM Rafik Hariri, until the Project date: end of year 2021.
- Events / Crises: Categorisation, Analysis, and Filtering of the Crises / Events,
- Timeline Design: Historical timeline sample research, draft proposals, analysis and agreement on the Timeline design.
- Website development: draft proposals, analysis and agreement on the final design,
- Characters sketching: Analysis of recorded narratives, characters sketching and colouring to reflect the experiences of the 10 selected individuals,
- Project Draft Report: Analysing the collected data (narratives, maps, events,), and preparing the Project draft report.
