Without a doubt, this past year has been one of the most tragic and heartbreaking in recent Lebanese history, between the economic collapse, the Covid-19 crisis and above all the 4th August 2020 Beirut blast that brought the country to its knees. Artist Nabil Nahas received photographer Joyce Ng and writer Gilles Khoury at his house in Ain Aar, about 15 kilometres north of Beirut, where he spent the entire lockdown period surrounded by his dogs and cats, his goats Rose and Georgette, his flowers and homegrown vegetables. Stylist Makram Bitar, also involved in this project, was raised in this same village. Nahas describes his house as a ‘haven’, and here he has recreated the flavours of a traditional Lebanese village. His latest series of olive tree paintings echo a Lebanon in disarray and reveal how Nahas never stops, in his own way, resisting through his art and deciphering the world from afar
