The Woman Behind the Walls by Anne Sengès and Jessie Deeter

It's a strange place to find the next wave of modern Beiruti art. Once the star of commerce and fashion for the Middle East, Beirut's downtown harbors the blasted-out hulls of buildings that are the leftovers of a decade-and-a-half-long war. In a sharp contrast indicative of the chaos and strange beauty of the still-scarred city, some ruins and reconstruction in the center of town are shielded from view by the earth-toned murals of an artist who is making a symbolic contribution to the restoration of her country. "We must rebuild ourselves," said recently repatriated Lebanese painter Gina Succar, a youthful looking, tanned woman of 49. "I try to reconstruct things so they will be prettier, only that, erasing the exterior marks of the war, because human scars are something else." Lebanese by ancestry but raised in Argentina, Succar made a painful return to her roots five years ago, following a 20-year absence. Reconstruction was far from her mind. She moved to Lebanon because her husband, a Lebanese expatriate like herself, wanted to return to his roots. The reality of landing in a city devastated by civil war and Israeli bombardment was depressing. "It was very hard for me in the beginning because I saw only destruction around me," she said. Next Page

Feature Stories Caught in the cross fire: Is Beirut Ready for Tourism? Marriage: Lebanese Style Meet Lebanon's only Male Belly Dancer Christians Looking for a Better Future A Visit to a Palestinian Camp CONTACT US WHO ARE WE? Back to Home Page