Selected works
Information
Goodbye Beirut
2016-2021
In Goodbye Beirut, Paul Hennebelle gives us a contemporary portrait of the city of Beirut, in its various representations. Through this narrative, he questions the very identity of the city to draw a parallel with its youth.
Paul Hennebelle is interested in the city in its metaphorical definition: the city as a living organism. He likes to confront elements of antinomic nature. Two types of representations, two different worlds are entwined: the old and the new, nature and concrete, the palpable and the immaterial. Two worlds that clash and a continuous tension throughout the story. Through subtle variations, the city reveals its ambiguous character. The new ruins overlap the old ones, creating a puzzle whose random cut fragments the environment in which the young Lebanese evolve.
As the images unfold, a sense of resignation and flight from danger emerges. It depicts the youth stuck in an endless repetition of the past and looking for an identity.
The only way to build oneself is to escape.
With the support of CNAP, Centre National des Arts Plastiques (National Center of Visual Arts), France