Narratives in Times
of Violence -
A Walking Diary
Nohad ElHajj
Bio: I am a Lebanese facilitator and artistic researcher. My artistic practice explores the different ways of being, imagining and mobilising knowledge in urban spaces. I use printmaking, photography and walking as my main mediums. My facilitation practice focuses on facilitating dialogue and storytelling processes.
The below images are taken in Beirut, Lebanon, between 28 September and 11 October, 2024, a period during which Israel bombs the city. These images were posted on Nohad Elhajj’s instagram account. On the date of publishing this contribution (13 October, 2024) war only intensifies — these image contributions will potentially be added to over time.
#walkinginwar #walkingdiary #Beirutstreets
Key words:
#land #celebration #flow
A scene: As per AI, the plant in the photo
seems to be Star Jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides). Apparently, Star Jasmine is well known for two habits: climbing habit
and twining habit. Impressive!
I will leave it be with its twining habit and will focus on its climbing tendencies. So, SJ
decided to climb to its right (or left depends on how you see it) all along the railing. It skipped the closest bars and aimed for the middle ones. Settled there enjoying a nice stretch. I can feel the effort, like when I try to barely touch
my toes when I am stretching.
It can be that it is the natural way of all star jasmines to just climb and twin but today, as I need a bit of imagination and magic, I decided on an ulterior motive. SJ longs for the blue of the sea and it wishes to see one sunset in its lifetime. So, it simply followed its intuition.
11 October, 2024
Key words:
#tired faces #pops of colour #taxi convo
what happens the day after? the day after tragedy. to which new/newer reality I wake up to live. to Be. the days after with new/newer realities are coming with abundance. Maybe with a sense of vengeance as if saying ‘you will wake up one day and it is all new you won’t even recognise where you live’.
10 October, 2024
Key words:
#drones #sound therapy #car ride
all the eyes are on you. questions of leaving or staying are becoming a daily word game. questions on positions, roles, future, present, the in between... searching for answers in the city that is living yet again aggression and violence. did we ever live in peace?
i am not sure.
9 October, 2024
8 October, 2024
i stand still
i bear witness
i hold space
Key words:
#tension #host #deep breathing
What grows in you during times of crises? Despair, hope, fear, anger, love, resistance, eerie calmness... Since Oct 7, I have been thinking about the energy I am putting into this world. While it carries traces of brokenness, I wanted that energy to be healing and caring. Yet, it is hard to fight back all this violence, injustice, and blood. It washes over you and it sticks to your skin. It feels like we will, forever, be wearing a thick layer of unshed tears, broken hearts,
and maybe a bit of light.
7 October, 2024
Key words:
#space #privilege #body
I did not walk yesterday. I went to the mountains (particularly a pine forest) and practiced taichi for a day. I had great food and I was surrounded by genuine and generous human beings. It feels like these moments are harder to live than carving in stone. The ephemeral at its most glorifying meaning.
I noticed that in war, meaning embodies a clearer and sharper dimension.
Anyway, if I had the chance to come back to earth again, I will ask to be a pine tree.
6 October, 2024
Key words:
#sunset #dead end #waves
A scene: I usually look at buildings in cities as framers. They frame the sky, the streets, my vision.... The sky would have looked wider. The streets more breathy. My vision broader.
A sense of romanticism and fatality. I see the building’s façade embracing the sunset light.
I know that the sun is setting somewhere beyond the buildings.
5 October, 2024
Key words:
#phosphorus #togetherness #unknown
I could not walk yesterday,
I was lethargic and in need to cocoon. I spent some time with my grandmother; holding hands. I love her hands. I realized that she has a mini radio; not sure where it came from or what she tunes into.
Teta, her radio and her masbaha, and me stole some time alone from all this madness.
Some layers of fatigue were lifted. What happens in togetherness, I guess.
4 October, 2024
2 October, 2024
Key words:
#freedom #reflection #piles of trash
A scene: You have to look up to notice the
birds fluttering around. In cages hanged from street signs. Shadowed by tall buildings, overlooking cars and asphalt. Yet, right in front of them is a big green tree.
Do they see their own reflection in
the birds that belong to the tree?
What do they think freedom is?
In retrospect, yesterday felt like the last day of summer.
Key words:
#shiny sun #blue sky #narrow escape.
A scene: the technician, whom I miraculously found available, is showing me the photos of his bombed store in choiefiat. Everything he has, his Rizq, isr’l blew away in seconds. My washing machine is between us; its interiors completely dismantled. Diagnosis: its heart broke down and it could not function anymore. Between the words of condolences and the prayers for patience, I struggle with the fine line separating the normal from the surreal.
Anyway, the last day of summer ended and it was not a dreamy, warm fall that was waiting for us.
1 October, 2024
Key words:
#chaos #connection #cat
A scene: I passed by an abandoned building turned into a displacement shelter. To tell the truth, I was happy to see the old traditional building breaking up with its long confinement. Now it seems free with the colourful clothes hanging on the laundry rope.
I felt the gaze first.
A black, self-assertive cat is
looking me in the eye.
Black, self-assertive cat and I were
trapped in a trance.
I remember that I forgot to bring the book for the friend I am meeting. I gaze back.
I take a photo. I walk.
30 September, 2024
Key words:
#suitcases #eerie quiet streets #sadness
A scene: two men. The first is patching what seems like a Persian big carpet; the carpet is resting abundantly in front of him on a table. I can see his torso and his head. His hand and the needle going up and down. The second sits with his shoulder to the back of the carpet man. On a wooden traditional chair. His hands and a book. He is reading.
Lines heard: '...in which hospital...' '...war...' '...do you need anything...'
Smells: flower scents, trash, fumes