Against erasure: The artists preserving south Lebanon’s stories Submitted by Rita Kabalan on Mon, 07/13/2026 - 14:16 Beit Beirut holds an exhibition where villages are remembered through photography, film and personal archives Rawan Mazeh documents the story of Muhammad Saeed (pictured) and his elderly parents who were detained and tortured in the notorious Israeli-run Khiam prison in south Lebanon in 1998 (Rita Kabalan/MEE) Off On the intersection of Independence Street and Damascus Street sits Beit Beirut, a museum stoically standing, part preserved by its original architecture and part shaped by the restoration work needed after Lebanon’s 1975–1990 civil war. Originally a residential building known as the Barakat building, or the Yellow House, it later became a strategic location for snipers overlooking the crossroads on what was then the Green Line during the conflict. The building, once a witness to war, is now a museum space where people share stories and others come to experience them.
Now, Beit Beirut is hosting Hkeeli Ya Jnoub, a collaborative exhibition of artists from southern Lebanon. Originally, the initiative was started as simply, “Hkeeli”, meaning “tell me” in April 2025 to commemorate the civil war - an invitation to conversations in memory. However, amid Israel’s devastating bombardment and widespread destruction across southern Lebanon, the initiative has focused on the south and its storytellers.
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Sama: 'Celebrating what remains' Sama Beydoun, a photographer and artist from Bint Jbeil, where entire neighbourhoods have been reduced to rubble, tells Middle East Eye that the exhibition was put together rather quickly. “We prepared the exhibition in two weeks or maybe a little longer. I knew I wanted to talk about the village and the house.
But at the same time I was frustrated at the thought of how few the photos are.” Beit Beirut opens with one of Sama's photographs displayed in the front entrance window, appearing at first glance almost like a blur of lime green. It's only when one comes closer does it reveal itself to be a landscape. Several other photographs in the series share the same tone.
They are the second of three attempts by Sama to document her village using a film camera gifted to her by her great-uncle. She initially saw the images as failed attemp…
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