Safe Space, 2023

The Beirut explosion on the 4th August 2020 shook Lebanese society to its core. A few days after the explosion I recovered CCTV footage from a friend’s studio within range of the port. The camera shook to the initial tremor, which caused her to panic. In the footage, you could see her take a step back and forth in hesitation as to whether she should seek cover or not.

This event triggered a series of conversations between my mother and I about how we would react, leading to my mother’s deeply personal reflections on her youth and the constant sense of trauma she felt growing up during the 15-year civil war in Lebanon: everyday shelling, bombing, sniping, impending threats had an impact on her mental and emotional well-being. In times of relentless fire, the dance people do between practical modes of survival, hesitation, and reacting on the spot. Her revelations: what people do with what they have, to survive and protect those closest to them touched on the humorous to the absurd.

This series of hand stitched embroidery hoops depict some of these stories, reflecting on a recent past as a way to think about the lasting effects of war, and destruction/ trauma.

All six pieces in the Safe Space series belong to the Victoria and Albert Museum’s permanent collection.

Bedtime, part of the Safe Space series, 2023, 30.5cm, Embroidery on cotton

During night time air raids, my mother and her siblings would sleep underneath the beds to protect themselves from falling debris.

Stray Bullets, part of the Safe Space series, 2023, 30.5cm, Embroidery on cotton

This image depicts my mother sitting in the foreground with my grandmother and grandfather in the background, wearing pots and pans over their heads as a means of protection from possible flying shrapnel coming through the windows.

Stack, part of the Safe Space series, 2023, 30.5cm, Embroidery on cotton

Every few days when the shelling got bad and the windows started to shake, my family would stack all their furniture in the room away from the windows, so if the glass shattered, it would be easier to clean up. They lived like this, every few days stacking and unstacking, trying to predict the risk.

Firebombs, part of the Safe Space series, 2023, 30.5cm, Embroidery on cotton

When the air raids got bad and bombs were being dropped, my grandfather made the family sit in the pool with pans on heads to either avoid shrapnel hitting their head, or, in the event of a fire, the water would be the safest place for them to be.

Sniper, part of the Safe Space series, 30.5cm, Embroidery on cotton

Whenever my mother went out to the local market to buy bread, she wore a makeshift bulletproof vest of metal pan lids on her front and back. Typically snipers would take position on rooftops and exchanges of fire would happen.

Doorframe, part of the Safe Space series, 30.5cm, Embroidery on cotton

When the fighting got bad, seeking refuge under the doorframe, supposedly the most structurally sound part of the house, offered a sense of security.