'Echoes From Lebanon' is An Artistic Response to Its Political Crisis

New online offering “Echoes from Lebanon,” launched Wedneday, presents a virtual art exhibition focusing on art that’s been made in response to politics.

Gathering works by over 40 artists, the show has been mounted by the I Have Learned Academy, an educational platform teaching post-school skills, and the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, the political organization associated with Germany’s Christian Democratic Union party.

“The idea is that we wanted to give a scream from Lebanon in an artistic way,” I Have Learned Academy founder Randa Farah told The Daily Star. “Sublimating pain through art is really part of this, because after the explosion we did a lot of art therapy session to release the pain people were feeling and art is a good outlet for these negative emotions.”

Exhibiting artists include Bernard Hage (The Art of Boo), Eddy Choueiry, Ivan Debs, Jad Ghorayeb, Rami Rizk, Tamara Haddad and Tom Young, all working in a range of media, from canvas to video.

The exhibition is being shown in four thematically distinct rooms, two of which are live now.

“The first room is related to Lebanon’s challenges – all corruption, pollution, the electricity and rubbish, the dollar crisis, poverty etc,” Farah said. “The second room is about the revolution, which was the result of all the problems seen in the first room.

“In May, we will launch the next two rooms of the exhibition which deal with the explosion, and then after the explosion,” she added. “We’re not selling any of the paintings ourselves. Our purpose is purely educational, so people can see what’s happening in a visual summery of the situation, especially to take our voice outside of Lebanon. Of course people are free to contact the artists if they want to buy any paintings.”

A series of talks will accompany the show. The academy hosts three talks a month in collaboration with KAS titled, “Thoughts and Talks for a Better Lebanon.” The artists on show will also take part in some panel discussions about their practices and experience of creating art amid Lebanon’s crises.

“We’re hoping to have our first panel on March 19,” Farah said, “with Tom Young and The Art of Boo (Bernard Hage) about their practices and why they make art the way they do and how they express themselves.”

This article has been adapted from its original source.