By August 2022, Beirut had become used to the dark. The city was marking two years since the port explosion, and was deep in the throes of political and economic collapse. A new kind of normal had taken hold – power cuts, vanishing fuel and institutional paralysis.
As a message of hope, the National Museum chose to remain open, even without electricity. People came, lighting the galleries with their mobile phones, bringing its ancient mosaics and sarcophagi out of the darkness. It was a moment of shared persistence.
Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige were among the museum’s visitors. The experience stayed with them – how in the absence of light, people strove to see anyway. They documented the moment in Sarcophagus of Drunken Loves (2024).
The work is among those displayed in Remembering the Light, their exhibition at the Sursock Museum. But it also serves as the poetic anchor of the exhibition.
Remembering the Light is the Lebanese duo’s first major exhibition in Beirut for 14 years. Their homecoming is significant, particularly as a lot of their works revolve around social and political tensions in Lebanon.
“The world and Lebanon has gone through so many ruptures lately,” Hadjithomas says. “It was really important to consider how we can do an exhibition, how we can continue in places that have been so fractured. You have to find some light, because if not, we are totally in despair.”
The exhibition opens with Palimpsests (2017), a video installation that delves, quite literally, beneath the surface of Beirut. Created from footage of core samples extracted from construction sites, the work unearths fragments of the city’s cursed histories – from modern rubble to ancient geological layers.
For Hadjithomas and Joreige, these cores are not just soil, but “raw film reels” waiting to be read. With its drone shots and microscopic imagery, Palimpsests swiftly establishes the exhibition’s central gesture: a vertical and temporal excavation of memory, rupture and regeneration.
In Message Without a Code (2022), the artists build upon a previous work with archeologists, in which they photographed archeological debris. Clay fragments, seeds and stones were carefully arranged on gauze cloth. These original images were lost in the 2020 port explosion.
“They were hanged in our studio and were destroyed,” Hadjithomas says. Rather than reprint them, Hadjithomas and Joreige chose to remake them as tapestries. The artists collaborated with the TextielLab at Tilburg’s TextielMuseum to develop the tapestries. The works incorporate several weaving processes to impart their textured and layered feel.
“It’s like an illusion, giving the impression that you have a three-dimensional work,” Hadjithomas says. As such, the weaving process became a way to preserve what was lost while giving new material form to fragile, buried histories.
The adjacent work, meanwhile, takes on a different approach with archeological remnants.
Blow Up (2025) turns microscopic historical remnants into monuments. Drawing on finds unearthed near the museum, the artists enlarge fragments such as marine sediments and Roman glass shards, encasing them in resin and steel. These sculptures function as both scientific samples and speculative relics, existing as tangible evidence and imagined history.
“The core sampling that we recuperated were from the neighbourhood of the museum,” Hadjithomas says, adding that their presentation at Sursock Museum gives an added significance to the work. “The audience will be able to see what is specifically under their feet. You see the stratigraphy of this place and how it evolved and changed.”
Message Without a Code and Blow Up both deal with archeological remnants. But where the former grapples with loss and fragility, Blow Up reflects upon discovery and amplification. Side by side, the two offer different ways of confronting the invisible weight of history.
Their pairing is a testament to the efficacy of the exhibition’s curation. It doesn’t just revisit works but draws unexpected connections between then, revealing new tensions and resonances within the artists’ evolving practice.
“Works change in time,” Joreige says. “Sometimes, when you are presenting two works next to each other, they are creating new meanings, new connections.”
Questions of visibility and erasure taken on a more urgent turn in Under the Cold River Bed (2020). The sculptural and slideshow-based work is set in the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr Al Bared.
After the camp was destroyed during a 2007 battle between the Lebanese army and Islamist groups, reconstruction efforts uncovered the ruins of the ancient Roman city of Orthosia. In Under the Cold River Bed, the artists worked closely with archeologists to trace the entangled timelines of Nahr Al Bared and the lost Roman city.
They highlight a dilemma specific to the site: how to preserve an important archaeological discovery while also meeting the needs of a displaced community. Using sculptural forms made of soil, resin and red sand, along with a projected slide show of images and testimonies, the work brings together stories of forced migration, buried histories and the overlapping violence of loss and recovery. The project was developed in collaboration with artist Maissa Maatouk and archeologist Hadi Choueri. It also featured in the 2023 Sharjah Biennial.
Projects like Under the Cold River Bed make it clear that these works were not created in isolation. Collaboration runs through much of Hadjithomas and Joreige’s work, not just as an artistic method but as a guiding principle.
In works like Time Capsules (2017), Trilogies (2018-2021), and Zigzag Over Time (2022), scientific core samples – extracted from sites in Beirut, Paris and Athens – are actively reinterpreted in collaboration with archeologists and geologists. Sarcophagi (2019) continues this engagement, imagining future forms of preservation, speculating what materials might one day require safeguarding for posterity.
Meanwhile, Remember the Light (2016) – which lends its title to the exhibition – extends this inquiry to the nature of perception itself. Filmed underwater, the work captures the slow disappearance of colour as divers descend into the darkness, until they are once again captured by light. The project shows how memory isn’t static, but flickers, reappears and refracts based on external stimuli. The project was co-produced by the Sharjah Art Foundation and developed with the help of five actor-divers.
The artists’ spirit of collaboration extends beyond the scientific and material.
In ISMYRNA (2016), Hadjithomas and Joreige sit in conversation with the late poet and artist Etel Adnan to explore how displacement shapes personal and collective histories. The focus of the conversation is Smyrna, now Izmir. Hadjithomas and Adnan shared ancestral ties to the city. While neither of them ever visited the city, they inherited it through family trauma and diaspora. The film is a powerful example of how storytelling can reclaim what geography and time have fractured.
In Khiam (2000-2007), the artists document the testimonies of six former detainees of the Khiam prison camp in southern Lebanon. Between 1985 and 2000, the camp was operated by the South Lebanon Army, a militia backed and funded by Israel.
Filmed before and after the site’s destruction, the work reflects on survival, resistance and the role of creativity within captivity.
Together, these works shift the focus from geological time to lived experience, expanding the exhibition’s exploration of what it means to remember, reconstruct and resist disappearance.
Finally, the exhibition concludes with the deeply poetic Index of Sighs (2024). A multi sensory installation of photographs, self-portraits and an accompanying sound piece that records visitors sighs. The intimate exhalations range from relief to weariness and serve as a wordless testimony to living with rupture, elegantly bringing the exhibition to a full circle.
“You have a QR code with each work, through which you can hear the sigh,” Joreige says. “For us, the sigh is meaningful because sometimes words are useless or they don’t express enough. But at least we can sigh together. And it can be painful or it can be joyful.”
A Dog's Journey
Directed by: Gail Mancuso
Starring: Dennis Quaid, Josh Gad, Marg Helgenberger, Betty Gilpin, Kathryn Prescott
3 out of 5 stars
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Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
AWARDS
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Meydan racecard:
6.30pm: Handicap | US$135,000 (Dirt) | 1,400 metres
7.05pm: Handicap | $135,000 (Turf) | 1,200m
7.40pm: Dubai Millennium Stakes | Group 3 | $200,000 (T) | 2,000m
8.15pm: UAE Oaks | Group 3 | $250,000 (D) | 1,900m
8.50pm: Zabeel Mile | Group 2 | $250,000 (T) | 1,600m
9.20pm: Handicap | $135,000 (T) | 1,600m
Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
The candidates
Dr Ayham Ammora, scientist and business executive
Ali Azeem, business leader
Tony Booth, professor of education
Lord Browne, former BP chief executive
Dr Mohamed El-Erian, economist
Professor Wyn Evans, astrophysicist
Dr Mark Mann, scientist
Gina MIller, anti-Brexit campaigner
Lord Smith, former Cabinet minister
Sandi Toksvig, broadcaster
The five stages of early child’s play
From Dubai-based clinical psychologist Daniella Salazar:
1. Solitary Play: This is where Infants and toddlers start to play on their own without seeming to notice the people around them. This is the beginning of play.
2. Onlooker play: This occurs where the toddler enjoys watching other people play. There doesn’t necessarily need to be any effort to begin play. They are learning how to imitate behaviours from others. This type of play may also appear in children who are more shy and introverted.
3. Parallel Play: This generally starts when children begin playing side-by-side without any interaction. Even though they aren’t physically interacting they are paying attention to each other. This is the beginning of the desire to be with other children.
4. Associative Play: At around age four or five, children become more interested in each other than in toys and begin to interact more. In this stage children start asking questions and talking about the different activities they are engaging in. They realise they have similar goals in play such as building a tower or playing with cars.
5. Social Play: In this stage children are starting to socialise more. They begin to share ideas and follow certain rules in a game. They slowly learn the definition of teamwork. They get to engage in basic social skills and interests begin to lead social interactions.
The bio
Favourite book: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Favourite travel destination: Maldives and south of France
Favourite pastime: Family and friends, meditation, discovering new cuisines
Favourite Movie: Joker (2019). I didn’t like it while I was watching it but then afterwards I loved it. I loved the psychology behind it.
Favourite Author: My father for sure
Favourite Artist: Damien Hurst
Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD)
What is THAAD?
It is considered to be the US' most superior missile defence system.
Production:
It was first created in 2008.
Speed:
THAAD missiles can travel at over Mach 8, so fast that it is hypersonic.
Abilities:
THAAD is designed to take out projectiles, namely ballistic missiles, as they are on their downward trajectory towards their target, otherwise known as the "terminal phase".
Purpose:
To protect high-value strategic sites, such as airfields or population centres.
Range:
THAAD can target projectiles both inside and outside of the Earth's atmosphere, at an altitude of 93 miles above the Earth's surface.
Creators:
Lockheed Martin was originally granted the contract to develop the system in 1992. Defence company Raytheon sub-contracts to develop other major parts of the system, such as ground-based radar.
UAE and THAAD:
In 2011, the UAE became the first country outside of the US to buy two THAAD missile defence systems. It then deployed them in 2016, becoming the first Gulf country to do so.
SPEC%20SHEET
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GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
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Details
Through Her Lens: The stories behind the photography of Eva Sereny
Forewords by Jacqueline Bisset and Charlotte Rampling, ACC Art Books
Groom and Two Brides
Director: Elie Semaan
Starring: Abdullah Boushehri, Laila Abdallah, Lulwa Almulla
Rating: 3/5
Types of fraud
Phishing: Fraudsters send an unsolicited email that appears to be from a financial institution or online retailer. The hoax email requests that you provide sensitive information, often by clicking on to a link leading to a fake website.
Smishing: The SMS equivalent of phishing. Fraudsters falsify the telephone number through “text spoofing,” so that it appears to be a genuine text from the bank.
Vishing: The telephone equivalent of phishing and smishing. Fraudsters may pose as bank staff, police or government officials. They may persuade the consumer to transfer money or divulge personal information.
SIM swap: Fraudsters duplicate the SIM of your mobile number without your knowledge or authorisation, allowing them to conduct financial transactions with your bank.
Identity theft: Someone illegally obtains your confidential information, through various ways, such as theft of your wallet, bank and utility bill statements, computer intrusion and social networks.
Prize scams: Fraudsters claiming to be authorised representatives from well-known organisations (such as Etisalat, du, Dubai Shopping Festival, Expo2020, Lulu Hypermarket etc) contact victims to tell them they have won a cash prize and request them to share confidential banking details to transfer the prize money.
* Nada El Sawy
if you go
The flights
Fly to Rome with Etihad (www.etihad.ae) or Emirates (www.emirates.com) from Dh2,480 return including taxes. The flight takes six hours. Fly from Rome to Trapani with Ryanair (www.ryanair.com) from Dh420 return including taxes. The flight takes one hour 10 minutes.
The hotels
The author recommends the following hotels for this itinerary. In Trapani, Ai Lumi (www.ailumi.it); in Marsala, Viacolvento (www.viacolventomarsala.it); and in Marsala Del Vallo, the Meliaresort Dimore Storiche (www.meliaresort.it).
Six large-scale objects on show
- Concrete wall and windows from the now demolished Robin Hood Gardens housing estate in Poplar
- The 17th Century Agra Colonnade, from the bathhouse of the fort of Agra in India
- A stagecloth for The Ballet Russes that is 10m high – the largest Picasso in the world
- Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1930s Kaufmann Office
- A full-scale Frankfurt Kitchen designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, which transformed kitchen design in the 20th century
- Torrijos Palace dome
Company%20profile
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