Decades of civil war have left deep marks on the Lebanese capital of Beirut. In 2005, former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and 22 others were killed by a truck bomb containing a tonne of explosives. Assassinations of other politicians, Hezbollah members and journalists followed and tensions between opposition and government supporters ran high.
To add to the country’s internal pressures, Lebanon has long been a destination for people fleeing conflict in the region. Palestine refugees represent an estimated ten per cent of the population of Lebanon. Many of the 450,000 Palestinians registered with the UN in the country live in refugee camps ruled by armed militias.
This series explores daily life in a city gripped by tension. It documents traces of conflict and observes the mood of the country at a distance. It visualises the history of violence in and around Beirut, where only 7 per cent of people ever took part in the fights. The vast majority of citizens in the socially and religiously divided city were victims caught up in the conflict.Just months after the series was shot in 2008, gunmen from the Shia group Hezbollah seized most of the liberal western part of the Lebanese capital.