A national Hero stamped

Maxime Chaya became a Lebanese Hero when he raised, for the first time in history, his country's flag to the highest point on Planet Earth- Indeed, Lebanon's foremost sportsman and climber, Maxime Chaya was the first person from his country to hoist its flag atop Everest , and he did so en route to ascending the highest mountain on every continent - the Seven Summits- while also skiing to the North and South Poles.

Avid sportsman since childhood, Chaya has been knighted twice for his achievements and got his portrait tagged on a 1000 Lebanese Lira post stamp. He was officially nominated the "SEVEN SUMMITEER" on May 15, '06 after having conquered all 7 Summits, the highest Peak on each Continent---
This is another act of gratitude from the Lebanese government, which hopefully will contribute to remind the Lebanese of Chaya's awesome achievement: a climb that was also stimulated by an urge to trigger awareness and focus on important issues, such as sustainability for a "Small Country with a Big Heart."

United colours of Lebanon

Colourful and quite unexpected taglines and designs around Lebanon, Beirut & various social issues made available on diverse products--Shirts, Mugs, Bags, Hats, Thongs, Boxer shorts, Pillows and many more Houseware & Officeware-- all put for sale by Raynbow, the Online Store founded in April 4th 2005 and powered by CafePress.

Items have been classified into categories, where you can search for designs and products 100% Lebanese, or just with an Arabic feel & lettering; there is a category titled country pride items, a quite innovative design approach to tackling social matters, also available beside more classical products filed under Fashion, clock and Lebanese model calendars-- these are cheesy items sort of-- Valentine, so on so forth...

Moreover, and the coolest part --but that is also one of Café Press interesting sides--Raynbow gives the designer, the chance to have your work exposed. If you believe you can be a part of the Raynbow team, and design awkward stuff to promote Lebanon, well feel free to submit your designs & click here. Let us know whenever your design becomes part of the peculiar yet daring Raynbow, store, would be glad to help highlighting unusual but pretty good work from Our Funky Town Lebanon, maybe the funkiest...

It is understood that Raynbow, is a non-profit store, where all the profit from sales and raised funds from donations will be used to cover the store's expenses first, whereas the rest will be donated to non-governmental organisations (NGO) working on human right issues in Lebanon.
Subsequently, by shopping at Raynbow, or by donating to the store ,you will be contributing to empowering human right movements in Lebanon.

Also, for people familiar with the ad industry in Lebanon, Raynbow site has been designed and developed by KALEIDO GRAPHICS.




Click to enlarge & view a selection by Sirdab of Raynbow best pick

tarararam

The cedar tree of the Lebanese flag is the national symbol of Lebanon, eternity and life. As our country gets shaped over the decades by never ending conflicts, maybe it’s time to replace our headstrong cedar with a curling winding twisting spiral. (tarararam) (music of the Lebanese National Anthem).
By Wael Morcos from The Place.

Continue reading here

Left the USA targeted Lebanon

Discovered an interesting blog, apparently dedicated exclusively to July Israeli war on Lebanon, where some brilliant political design posters are posted, depicting the aggression on the country during that terrifying month. You could check the rest here

Re-Play War

Mixed-media collage art by Lebanese multi-disciplinary artist Tarek Chémaly

All about The Wall!!

Beirut tagged by some interesting graffiti street artists, shot by Sirdab photographer.

It is All about about the Wall!!

In this case, it's about That Specific Wall, where taggers have elected their headquarter to draw their feelings, re-draw, delete, over-shadow each other messages and leave their stance, in colour and with talent, across a very symbolic area of the capital.
In fact, it's within the Quaranteen sector of Beirut that street fighters have drawn their own war on Lebanon for about 15 years.
Infinite stories could be endlessly narrated; however, one image, like "3abass''-- a word that means 'in vain' in Arabic-- graphed firmly on "That Wall of Beirut" --2nd from top-- manages sometime to echo deeper than anything else --in people's mind.
That's the Power of Art, namely Street Art, with an Attitude;)
So, as Mister Mc Luhan stated, it is sometime one image, just one, that is indeed worth a 1000 words.

Who said, ART in VAIN? Is IT??

Piss In Style

Free hand airbrush illustration work--on toilet seat-- by a renowned Lebanese tattoo artist.
Hady Beydoun, is a multi-disciplinary talented young designer, owner of Skin Deep studio, and a well-established illustrator, who has earned a brilliant reputation in the Arab world, by blending passion and excellence in every piece he has drafted. Often the result is edgy, appealing and seemingly empowering to this professional illustrator.

Enta Meen?

Meen Inta is a logotype produced for a series of flyers/posters about Lebanese artists/designers by Pascal Zogbi.
Zoghbi explains, "The main shape started from a question mark symbol (?). It is a rounded and based on a circular grid. The logotype is composed of detached Arabic letters; but at the same time, the letters are connecting and looping together. The logotype gives the feel of a maze or the feel of questioning. That is due to the fact that the flyers/posters main concept is to make the viewer ask who is this artist or designer who is introduced."

BEIRUT STREET GRAPHICS

copyrighted material- photography by Ghada Azzi

Streets are vibrant, budding, exuberant, colourful if not chaotic places where an unexpected rendezvous is often awaiting us around the corner. Its imagery [made of graphics, signs, advertisements, tags, graffiti...] offer one mishmash of colours like no other; street art composes a public gallery of icons, marks and references that reflects cities' personality.
Featured in this post, images I shot while wandering aimlessly in my city trying to dig Beirut's rock ... Needless to say that Beirut's graphic street culture speaks for itself...
Beirut is Vibrant, Beirut is Chaotic, Beirut is Crazy. Beirut is Bloody Charming...

I'll be posting many visuals of such, along with some links of buddies who have chosen to discover the heart, the soul of their city by screening its walls. Here, can't but think of a friend, Tarek Chémaly who has dubbed his "errance" thru Beirut, 'Murs-Murs' de la Ville {in French in the text--which is a play on word as murmure means whisper and Mur means wall too; Ville-City}.
To be continued.. Tarek has an archive of amazing imagery of Beirut's graphic language, and has written an excellent article in ArabAd magazine November issue 07... Will be posting some excerpts too...

Meanwhile, enjoy an ephemeral art by unknown but not unnoticed artists, who have decided to scribble, tag, salute the world; they have graphed messages that are often deeper than it looks!!

37 kids murdered

A speed limit sign created by a Greek designer, Fetanis Ioannis, in remembrance to Qana massacre,
during the Israeli war on Lebanon in the summer 2006 where 37 kids were murdered.
As for the number displayed on the bottom of the visual,
it refers to the massacre date: 30-07-06 = 300706

Meet Lebanon