A Lebanese artist has unveiled a beautiful sculpture made to commemorate the victims of the Beirut port explosion, constructing it entirely out of rubble from the disaster. Hayat Nazer, 33, created the sculpture out of broken glass, twisted metal and other debris, producing a piece like no other. It even contains a broken clock showing the exact time, 6.08 PM, that the blast occurred.
It has now gained widespread attention in Lebanon and in the global media after images of the sculpture were placed online. Nazer's Instagram account is full of other art she has produced including graffiti and a previous sculpture, known as 'The Phoenix', that was created during the 2019 social uprisings in Lebanon.
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"The explosion broke my heart. I was just devastated. I was traumatized, but honestly, all of us in Lebanon are traumatized. When I'm feeling that way, I just try to help, fix, and heal through art — so this is my way of accepting reality and trying to build my people back up. I travelled to people's homes after they were destroyed by the explosion and told them, 'I just want you to give me anything I can include to make you a part of my sculpture'. I was shocked. People gave me such valuable things — things from their childhood, their grandparents who died in the civil war, things they wanted to save for their children. So many emotions went into this."
The explosion occurred on the 4th of August 2020 and killed over 200 people. It also wounded thousands and left 300,000 people homeless. It occurred due to the improper storage of tons of fertiliser, ammonium nitrate, that ignited releasing a devastating blast. Experts have suggested that it had the power of around 10% of the atomic bomb that flattened Hiroshima in the Second World War.
The Lebanese authorities have come under huge criticism for failing health and safety standards. The explosion came as Lebanon was not only under pressure from Covid19 but was also in the midst of the largest economic downturn in its modern history, certainly since the civil war. It is now the second most indebted country in the world and huge protests have taken place against corruption, nepotism and economic and political mismanagement.
While previous works by Nazer have been removed by the authorities, time will tell as to whether they continue to allow the blast sculpture to remain on display.
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