Fizala Khan
Lebanon, reeling from months of political turmoil, economic collapse and a virus outbreak that worsened with time, dealt with a tragic explosion in Beirut. The weight of it all had nearly paralyzed the small country.
A warehouse explosion that convulsed the country due to negligence of the state, where 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate (usually used for fertilizers and bombs) that was stored without precautions for past six years at a port in Beirut had exploded from a possible detonation, initiation or an explosive that was close to the storage facility.
Hayat Nazer was on her way to Beirut when a massive stockpile of ammonium nitrite exploded at the port, killing 190 people, injuring more than 6,000 and leaving more than 300,000 displaced from their homes on the 4th of August.
Hayat is an artist and social activist who quit her job at United Nations to pursue art. Her works includes other found object sculptures, as well as graffiti and paintings on canvas.
After the blast in Beirut, Hayat joined many residents from the area who volunteered to clean the debris and restore the beauty that Beirut is known for. She spent weeks strolling the streets, collecting rubble and debris from the blast and visiting locals, asking them for any twisted metal, broken glass and discarded belongings to use in the sculpture that she was making.
Hayat gathered enough items to create a woman raising Lebanon’s flag, her hair and dress flowing in the wind. She does not have a name for the sculpture yet. The sculpture even features a damaged clock stuck at 6:08, the moment of the explosion.
Hayat Nazer has previously used her art as a medium of depicting the social and political issues in Lebanon. Before the explosion, Lebanon descended into months of protests against the country’s ruling elite, which is when Nazer left her job in communications at United Nations to create art in hopes of inspiring change.
Speaking to The Kahmiriyat, Hayat said, “I felt that through art, I can make the change that I would like to see in the world, because at my job, I felt I wasn’t able to do much and this is why I always do art that holds meaning and purpose with a cause.”
She further added, “Since the start of the Lebanese revolution, I went to the streets, I never left the streets, I used to go everyday. At first we were blocking roads, protesting, trying everything. I felt that I needed to express, to express my thoughts and my feelings, because there were enormous emotions with the revolution and the people. I felt all the love between people, we were gathered from all parts of Lebanon, the south, the north, Beirut and we were all together.”
Talking about the revolution she said, “We were all there, together, helping each other when the police used to throw tear gas bombs at us, we would run and help each other when we were suffocating and trying to run away so the police does not catch us.”
“This is what I wanted to express, so I felt the urge to paint and that is when I did my first graffiti ever, called ‘Love Revolution’ – where I painted the colors of all the political parties going into a prism and just one red light emits from it, which represents that all of us are one for Lebanon.”
Hayat painted and made sculptures depicting the role of women in revolution. She said, “After I saw that tents were broken by counter-protesters during the country’s political upheaval, I thought of making a Phoenix out of the ashes of the broken tents and people from all over Lebanon helped me build it. However, a few days ago, pro government protesters burned the art because they want to put an end to the revolution.”
“The sculpture that I made form the blasts in Beirut was unnamed, because I wanted people to come and participate and give it name by putting in their emotions. While cleaning homes that were destroyed, I collected rubble, cement, glass and I took it home, made a sculpture out of it. When I took the sculpture to the streets, I saw people crying and they came up to me and told me that she (the sculpture) portrays exactly how they are feeling on the inside. It is not only a ‘women’ rising, it is rising because we need to rise, move on, but she also shows destruction. If you look at her eyes, her face, her hands and feet, everything. So I did feel that through art, sculptures, people can feel something and initiation of change comes within us.”
“My message through art is to make a change and to plant a seed in each viewers heart so that maybe one day the seed can grow and they can witness the change. I want to deliver the voice of people and they are happy that the world is reminded of their suffering and pain through the medium of art.”
You can follow Hayat Nazer on her Instagram, where she posts pictures from the art she creates.