LEBANON: Ottoman coach house provides creative space for Syrian artists in Lebanese mountain district of Aley

Record ID: 276525

  • Title: LEBANON: Ottoman coach house provides creative space for Syrian artists in Lebanese mountain district of Aley
  • Date: 30th July 2013
  • Summary: ALEY, LEBANON (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF THE GARDENS OF ARTISTS' RESIDENCE HAND-WRITTEN SIGN READING (English): 'ART RESIDENCE ALEY, 13, MAY, 2012' EASELS AND PAINTING MATERIALS IN GARDEN OF HOUSE VARIOUS OF PEOPLE SITTING AT TABLE IN GARDEN TALKING (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) ART HOUSE OWNER, RAGHAD MARDINI, SAYING: ''I would like this place to be a place of freedom, which
  • Embargoed: 14th August 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Lebanon
  • Country: Lebanon
  • Topics: Conflict,General,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA1L5C3PBAM0B7LIRDNIMSTFT3G
  • Story Text: In the mountains above Beirut, a former coach house has been transformed into a residence for Syrian artists.
    The residence was founded by Raghad Mardini, a Syrian engineer who moved to Lebanon with her family five-years ago.
    Mardini has worked for over a year converting the crumbling building into an art residence, where Syrian artists, displaced by the conflict in their homeland. can stay and work on creative projects.
    Mardini said she wanted to create a place where Syrian artists felt they had freedom to fully express themselves.
    "I would like this place to be a place of freedom, which provides opportunities for all young artists who have a creative energy, who have something that they want to share and thoughts that they want to express, and I want this place to be like a gate and a bridge that helps artists to cross through to other gates,'' she said.
    Mardini found the coach house in 2011 and, although it lay in ruins, she felt it could be transformed into a beautiful property.
    Mardini funded the project with her own money, and provides each artist with a four-week stay and all art materials.
    The art residence first opened its doors in May 2012 and, since then, more that 150 art works have been created by 25 Syrian artists.
    "The project started with a small idea, and through each artist's participation, the idea became bigger, and the artists continued to stay. The house is open to every artist for four weeks. In these four weeks, we serve artists with all their daily needs, in addition to providing all the art materials,'' she said.
    Mardini also donates small amounts of money to the artists, which mostly goes to their families in Syria or for them to spend on personal expenses.
    Hasko Hasko is a Syrian artist who lives in Damascus with his family.
    He decided to visit the residence to escape the violence plaguing Syria.
    "The experience itself adds to the artist's work who has come here for more freedom, more expression. It adds new colours, it increases the artist's appetite to eat and to paint. Artists in this place forget the violence they lived through while they were in Syria, they return back to the normal selves," he said.
    Another Syrian artist, Fadi Hamwi, left the Syrian capital Damascus to permanently settle in Beirut two months ago.
    Hamwi found that he was able distance himself from the Syrian conflict and focus on his art work.
    "When I first arrived here, I felt that this place had an influence. I continued painting owls, which I started painting before I came here, I sculpted a small statue which I named 'an owl and a travel bag'. Also, I created a painting I called 'the owl peace', the painting is an owl carrying an olive branch in its beak instead of the white dove," he said.
    With its high ceilings, spacious rooms and beautiful gardens, the coach house provides a peaceful and inspiring space for Syrian artists to work.
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