Tales of the City: Artist Nadim Karam on being inspired by his return to his native Beirut after the war

Lebanese artist, Nadim Karam, with one of his artworks.

Photo by Rubina A. Khan/Getty Images 

Nadim Karam moved back to his native Beirut in the early 1990s, after years spent studying abroad during the lengthy ­Lebanese civil war.

The city had been ravaged by shelling and was haunted by derelict buildings. It was emotionally and symbolically divided along the Green Line that had split the city into East and West for 15 years.

Karam, who had studied both architecture and art, saw Lebanon was not only in need of renovation, rebuilding and improved infrastructure but something else a little less tangible – the city and its citizens needed to ­rediscover a sense of playfulness, unity and imagination. 

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