PS Visuals

If These Walls Could Speak

If Tripoli's walls could speak, what would they say?

25 May 2022
Author
Fátima Fouad el-Samman
“Our right to housing and sustenance, our right to education and freedom” is written on the wall of a building.

“Our right to housing and sustenance, our right to education and freedom” is written on the wall of a building in “Mar Maroun” Street in Tripoli. Tripoli, Lebanon. May 15, 2022. (Fátima Fouad/The Public Source)

On the road leading to El Mina’s clocktower, a wall reads, “I’ve loved you in a time bereft of job opportunities.”

On the road leading to El Mina’s clocktower, a wall reads, “I’ve loved you in a time bereft of job opportunities.” El Mina, Lebanon. May 15, 2022. (Fátima Fouad/The Public Source)

one wrote on the wall, “We will stay, my house is here, here, my land is here, rise Beirut, rise from under the rubble.” Parked by the wall is a car that has been there for a while, its front wheel likely stolen. To the left, one reads, “Fuck the system, I love you, but my salary is ten dollars,” signed by Abu Abeer.

At the entrance of Al Jdeedeh neighborhood in El Mina, one wrote on the wall, “We will stay, my house is here, my land is here, rise Beirut, rise from under the rubble.” Parked by the wall is a car that has been there for a while, its front wheel likely stolen. To the left, one reads, “Fuck the system, I love you, but my salary is ten dollars,” signed by Abu Abeer who has turned walls in the city into his diary. El Mina, Lebanon. May 15, 2022. (Fátima Fouad/The Public Source)

On a wall adjacent to El Mina’s clocktower one wrote, “I love you the way the state loves wanted men.” Someone else erased several letters in “wanted men."

On a wall adjacent to El Mina’s clocktower one wrote, “I love you the way the state loves wanted men.” Someone else erased several letters in “wanted men” to preserve, supposedly, the standing of the state. El Mina, Lebanon. May 15, 2022. (Fátima Fouad/The Public Source)

A cactus foregrounds the backside of the Model Public School for Boys in Tripoli. On that wall, someone wrote “Fuck the Media."

A cactus foregrounds the backside of the Model Public School for Boys in Tripoli. On that wall, someone wrote “Fuck the Media,” sometime during the October 17 uprising. Tripoli, Lebanon. May 15, 2022. (Fátima Fouad/The Public Source)

“Ahed Al-Tamimi” is stenciled on a wall next to “Gaza, our living root, hang on”.

“Ahed Al-Tamimi” is stenciled on a wall of the Maronite Archeparchy of Tripoli since her arrest, then trial, by the Zionist occupation. Next to it, “Gaza, our living root, hang on” was added sometime during the genocidal war that Israel waged on the besieged Gaza Strip in May 2021, one of the most brutal bombardment campaigns by land, sea, and air. Tripoli, Lebanon. May 15, 2022. (Fátima Fouad/The Public Source)

On the back wall of ‘Ibreen School, where working teenagers Mustafa and Hussein are standing, one reads the slogan “Love, Revolution, Anger” from a few years ago. Further to the middle of the image, the words “Jammul, the path to liberation, September 16, 1982” are inscribed.

On the back wall of ‘Ibreen School, where working teenagers Mustafa and Hussein are standing, one reads the slogan “Love, Revolution, Anger” from a few years ago. Further to the middle of the image, the words “Jammul, the path to liberation, September 16, 1982” are inscribed in remembrance of the Lebanese National Resistance Front, founded on the same day that the Israeli army invaded Beirut. Tripoli, Lebanon. May 15, 2022. (Fátima Fouad/The Public Source)

A woman walks by a wall in Al Shiraa Square in the old town El Mina where one reads: “Our youths are lost to drugs and the [deteriorating] conditions.” The writing faces a pole on which hangs a poster of (losing) parliamentary candidate Ahmed Al-Amin, owner of the northern Al-Amin roasters, with the hashtag “Al-Amin [literally trusted] with your voice.”

A woman walks by a wall in Al Shiraa Square in the old town El Mina where one reads: “Our youths are lost to drugs and the [deteriorating] conditions.” The writing faces a pole on which hangs a poster of (losing) parliamentary candidate Ahmed Al-Amin, owner of the northern Al-Amin roasters, with the hashtag “Al-Amin [literally trusted] with your voice.” El Mina, Lebanon. May 15, 2022. (Fátima Fouad/The Public Source)

On the left, two old men chat before a mural by Tripoli’s visual artist Ali El Rafei, close to Al Shiraa Square in El Mina. At the top right corner, a picture of politician Ashraf Rifi covers part of the mural.

On the left, two old men chat before a mural by Tripoli’s visual artist Ali El Rafei, close to Al Shiraa Square in El Mina. At the top right corner, a picture of politician Ashraf Rifi covers part of the mural. El Mina, Lebanon. May 15, 2022. (Fátima Fouad/The Public Source)

On another wall of a building in the old town of El Mina, one drew a ladder and wrote, “Go up and see Dubai.”

On another wall of a building in the old town of El Mina, one drew a ladder and wrote, “Go up and see Dubai.” El Mina, Lebanon. May 15, 2022. (Fátima Fouad/The Public Source)

Art, Media & Culture

Fátima Fouad el-Samman is a journalist at The Public Source.

    image/svg+xml

    Did you find value in this story? Help us continue to produce the stories that matter to you by making a donation today! Your contribution ensures that The Public Source remains a viable, independent, and trust-worthy source of public interest journalism.

    Donate Now!