(18 Sep 2020) LEAD IN:
With the sea as the backdrop, Lebanese artists used their work to express solidarity with the victims of the Aug. 4 blast in Beirut.
STORY-LINE:
From the fishermen's port in Tyre, Lebanese artists sent a message of solidarity to the victims of the Aug. 4 blast at Beirut's port.
Artists came from all corners of the country to take part in the open-air exhibition.
Their work was displayed on wooden stands, against the backdrop of the sea and with nostalgic music filling the air.
The activity is part of a campaign aimed at rehabilitating cultural centres affected by the port explosion.
Apart from historic homes, many other cultural structures such as museums also need extensive restoration after the massive Aug. 4 blast that killed at least 190 people, injured 6,500 and caused damage worth billions of dollars.
The Tyre exhibition is "a simple thing to do to contribute in a way or another to support the cultural centers," said Kassem Istanbouli, an organiser and the founder of national theater of Tyre.
"We find that we are need of this solidarity in Lebanon, in all the areas in Lebanon," he added.
Randa Zorghali, who came from Sidon, said she participated "to send a message to our people in Beirut that what happened did not only affect them."
"Our souls were destroyed with them," she said.
The organisers said the invitation for the one-day exhibition was open to everyone, and to all types of drawing including works by children.
Children from various ages participated in the exhibition where a table was set up for them on the port's deck.
Artist Ihab Tirro, made a painting portraying the blast from the point of view of a child who lost her eye in the explosion.
Instead of asking for toys, the child asks her mother to bring back her eye.
In an instant, thousands of lives were affected by the blast and children in the Lebanese capital were left grappling with the trauma.
The explosion of nearly 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate stored at the port for six years also left a quarter of a million people homeless.
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