My Story
My dad grew up in Beirut during the war. He was about 10 years old when it started, and by the time he was 15 they were trying to draft young boys into the army to fight. My grandparents were able to get him out, and he made it to the states. We’ve been going to Lebanon once a year for vacation since I was little, but in the past two years I’ve become more involved in the Lebanese art scene. I did a residency program, and then started working on some curatorial projects with artists that I met in Beirut. I was at the Beruit Art Center to see a show called Place at Last by Walid Sadek. There was this moment where my questions and thoughts of my father’s identity, and more largely, my own Lebanese identity and heritage synthesized with my professional and academic interests. It was this really wonderful moment for me. Everything shifted and merged. I went back to the show twice. I said, “I’m going to school for this. This is what I’m interested in.” Art is capable of articulating something you can’t, and shifting your perception.