Crazy electric chairs

I was recently browsing the internet for electric chairs and capital punishment imagery for the posterfortomorrow competition. The theme was death is not justice, you can view my entry below.

To my surprise, the electric chair became so common it entered fashion and is reproduced in toys! Capital punishment violates the most basic human right. How will the kids understand this concept if they play with a lego executioner ?

Politics-free shop in Bekfayah

The sign reads: Dearest customers, please don't talk about politics in the shop.

It seems like this shop owner in Bekfayah knows exactly how long Lebanese people will argue in politics, and chose his peace of mind by asking his customers to leave their political views at the door !

Squeeze it in !

What do you do when you have a big car and can't find parking space ?

Plagiarism.org

Librairie Sayah in Batroun (North Lebanon) found it appropriate to steal the logo of the Lebanese newspaper "An Nahar" and make it its own !

No two ways about it !

This minute-long video resumes a 15mn long scene I was lucky to witness: a one way street, two stubborn drivers, only one of them for a good cause.

Refusing to let the car go the wrong way down this street, the driver didn't move until everything was back in order !

He/or she even got a round of applause when the goal was accomplished !

Enjoy your green space

One of the things i feel most frustrated about in Beirut is the lack of green spaces. The urban planning of the city includes very little accommodation of public green spaces where you can relax and chill.

I especially felt this lack after living in Paris for a while. So when the time came, Nadine Feghaly and I collaborated on this public intervention to express our disagreement with the lack of the "urban-green" !

The public intervention was up since 6am this morning, on friday june 4th 2010, for World's Environment Day. In 9 spots around Beirut, the installations shout our call for change.

Check it out for yourself ! Here's a map of the 9 spots in Beirut.

The insides are outside: Etapes and Wad

It's interesting to note that both spring issues of the french magazines Etapes and Wad chose to display the inside of a human body on their covers!

While one is a painting of a female and the other is a photograph of a male body; still in spring, the insides are outside !

Lebanese elections v/s Traffic rules

The elections are apparently more important than traffic rules !

It's fair, more than 50% of the sign is still visible !

Lebanese Laique Pride

She might be little aware of the importance of the message she's holding at the moment, but she will grow into it and learn how to embrace it and fight for it.

At the Laique Pride march on sunday April 25th 2010, this little girl represented hope !

Digital Love

He chose to tell Nady he loved her in a very secret and coded way.

The "<" sign and the "3" next to it, are used online, especially on facebook or blogs to illustrate the heart sign (as seen below).

While this romantic person could have drawn a real heart shape, he chose to give his emotions virtual codes !!

Scientifically accurate bathroom sign

Statistically**, men are taller than women, and the bathroom sign at GLION university in Switzerland decided to portray that exactly !

** as seen on this website. (one of many )

Behind that green background

When walking in downtown Beirut the other day, i stumbled upon a road sign mounted on a green square background. I walked along and noticed that all the road signs have that same green background.
It was something i may have noticed quickly in the past, but never actually stopped and thought about. Most importantly, i've never realized the statement that these road signs make, and what they symbolize.

To outsiders, downtown Beirut is also known as Solidere area. Solidere, according to their website is "The Lebanese Company for the Development and Reconstruction of Beirut Central District, that was incorporated as a Lebanese joint-stock company on May 5, 1994. Its business is the reconstruction and development of the Beirut city center. Providing a broad range of quality land and real estate development activities and services, it combines the business independence and acumen of a private company with global vision and a sense of public service." * (as quoted directly from their website )

So, in other words, Beirut central district has a name, the name of a private company that bought it.
It no longer belongs to the Lebanese people, but to a company that reconstructed it, and privatized it.



In sixteen years, Solidere has reconstructed downtown and made it one of the most beautiful, one of the cleanest and one of the most touristic attractions in the country. With the Lebanese Government lacking the resources and funds to restore the "centre-ville" Solidere is solely responsible for the renovation of Downtown Beirut and had it not been for the private funds the company provided, the area would have remained in ruins up until today; 19 years after the Civil War has ended.
However, a very important factor would have been kept in tact: The people. Much more was wiped out with reconstruction than the ruins. ‪If the area was in need of an intervention, it should have been oriented towards the public good rather than earning sky-high profits.‬

The downtown area became more of a showy touristic area, lacking traditional saje bakeries, old fool and hommous restaurants and other vital cultural aspects that characterized the city. ‪Instead you often find yourself window shopping in front of expensive shops and sighing at virtually empty luxurious residential buildings.‬

Although this is a political topic, I'm going to refrain from making any political judgement, as this is in no way my argument. ‪I cannot accept, nor can I absorb the fact that my own city's city-center, its sidewalks and its walls, have been privatized to such an extent that the road signs need to differ from the rest of the country's signage.

This is a s‬mall detail, with a big meaning.

Please don't make her cry

It was a hilarious surprise to walk by this toy shop in Saida (Lebanon) and find this doll package !
Great photo shoot session Loryne ! ;)

S, M, XXL

The municipality must have noticed that multiplying road signs or even writing SPEED LIMIT on them didn't make Lebanese drivers more sensitive and aware on the road.

So they decided on the highway before Dora (Lebanon) to blow the signs up and make them almost twice larger!!! ((new size on the right in the picture).
The signs desperately scream: Hey you blind driver ! notice me ! I'm in your face now !


Will size matter now?

Font from the streets

On the streets.
I went looking for the whole alphabet. Found letters in the pavement, on shop signs, on doors, until i made my collection and vectorized it !
This is my fun font from my day on the streets !
( don't forget to click on the images to view them larger !)