Lucien Samaha

it is easy for me to walk about any city but not about Beirut the city of my birth

for many years I wanted to distance Beirut and Lebanon from my being

I wanted to be free of nationality of religion of any label

I thought I succeeded but in the heat of 2006 another war revealed the fragility of peace the frailness of my realization and the chain of bond

Beirut and the Lebanon came back to possess me my emotions were torn I suffered

I sought relief I scoured the web for news for pictures for images I found them and they took me down

I turned to my own photographs in my own archive keyword Beirut and found the pictures I last took there in the coolness of 2003

they are beautiful but uneasy the mood was calm but uncertain optimism was cautious

structures in conflict old, new, falling, building, rebuilding the city was vital but ominous

belligerent jets breaking sound threatening danger I strolled by day I prowled by night

not afraid of what Beirut is but of what it can be a city uneasy about itself uneasy about Beirut

Lucien Samaha
Uneasy about Beirut