Category Archives: Blog

Yesterday, my students and I climbed to the top of the Crusader castle in Byblos to enjoy one of the most spectacular views in Lebanon…

PLEASE DON’T TOUCH is an interactive performance introducing a new concept to sculpture. Nadine Abou Zaki sculpted blindfolded in the dark focusing on the inner self, substituting the sense of sight with that of touch. She questions the role of image as a contemporary tool and the physical act of touching in artistic creation. What is sculpting without a body? Communicating without a body? Desiring without a body? Nadine invites you to touch, experience and interact in the dark with her sculptures.

Opening: Thursday, November 20, from 6-9 pm
Exhibition Dates: November 20-30, 2014
Opening Hours: Mon-Sat, 2-7 pm

My students and I kicked off our Sunday morning with a hike up the legendary mountain at Nahr el-Kalb to sur​vey​​ commemorative stelae left behind by Pharaonic, Assyro-Babylonian, Greek, Roman, Arab, French and British armies doing battle in the Levant​…

And the cloud floats above the hills and valleys
Until it meets the gentle breeze, then falls weeping
To the fields and joins with brooks and rivers to Return to the sea, its home.
The life of clouds is a parting and a meeting.
A tear and a smile…

— Khalil Gibran

“And she flew away” suggests a reflection on the quest for origins as a journey of searching for one’s own voice and place in a community of marginalization. It is a journey towards a lost identity, an unknown mother, and a longing for truth. Testimonies, poem, live music and stories, shadowed for years, are stepping out to unveil hidden realities, articulate the quest for identity, and address taboos concerning the world of separation…an improvisation on our lived reality. Badael-Alternatives [web | Facebook] is an NGO that proposes alternatives to prevent forced separation. We advocate for the right to origins.

When I was in Oman two weeks ago, friends and strangers alike voiced their concerns over Oman’s uncertain future…

As an Egyptologist, I’ve taken a particular interest in the ancient Egyptian names used in the Rosetta Mission–a fine sample of Egyptomania in space…