Imagine ...

Zena el-Khalil : co-founder of xanadu*, an art space located in New York City and Beirut, dedicated to helping young artists who are not interested in commercial galleries and, aljisser, a USA based organization that works to promote the work of Arab artists is writing a blog ...

She's writing about how it is to be in Lebanon these days ... about the foreigners she's helping, the dogs they are forced to leave behind, her friend with cancer, the massive oil slick that is destroying Lebanese coastline and how it feels to be an artist who has been told to leave ... leave a sick friend, her dog, her art supplies, letters, photographs, her art...

An extract: but, i do not want to be just another war victim... that perhaps next week you will forget all about me. i don't want to live a life of war. i did not ask for this. i do not want this. i had another life. one that was directed by me. one that i was in charge of. decisions that i made by myself. responsibilities that i set for myself. i don't want to be a war story. do you understand what i am trying to say? i just want to be me. live the life that i spent shaping and moulding for myself. follow my dreams. carry out my projects. paint what i feel like painting, and not what is imposed on me.