We used to think of Beirut as a brown, concrete city lacking color and green space, but the Dihzahyners are challenging such dreary labels by painting the city white, pink, purple, green, orange and every other color of the rainbow.
A collective of artists and designers armed with buckets of paint (non-toxic, we hope?) and a whole lot of love, the group calls their current urban intervention “Paint Up.” They’ll be painting murals and steps throughout the city until 3 November, 2012.
One of the biggest projects undertaken by Dihzahyners to date is a 73 step installation in the Mar Mikhael district of Beirut, which took seven hours to complete.
Each step is lovingly energized with bright, colorful geometric patterns. The transformation is powerful – right up there with the folks who use LEGO to patch up cracks and the Bokja team who covered tires with fabric in colorful protest.
The Dihzahyners also took part in the White Wall event that aims to give new impetus to the city’s graffiti artists. This initiative was organized by the Beirut Art Center in association with Foundation Saradar.
“It was a beautiful experience, collaborating and meeting with international and local street art and graffiti artists,” according to a post on the Dihzahyners’ Facebook wall. “Thank you again, for making us a part of this! This one’s for you, a piece we made for the city, to represent the city.”
Check out their tumblr page for a look at more fun photos – mostly taken with instagram – and keep an eye out for their next Paint Up session!
Lead image © nadim kamel
Author: Tafline Laylin
As a tour leader who led “eco-friendly” camping trips throughout North America, Tafline soon realized that she was instead leaving behind a trail of gas fumes, plastic bottles and Pringles. In fact, wherever she traveled – whether it was Viet Nam or South Africa or England – it became clear how inefficiently the mandate to re-think our consumer culture is reaching the general public. Born in Iran, raised in South Africa and the United States, she currently splits her time between Africa and the Middle East. Tafline can be reached at tafline (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
