Jacquemus, Jean Paul Gaultier and Rabih Kayrouz among famous names raising funds for Lebanon

More than 70 visual artists, photographers and fashion designers are taking parting in a charity sale and exhibition, with proceeds going to Beit el Baraka

More than 70 visual artists, photographers and fashion designers are taking parting in the initiative, including Nicolas Lecourt Mansion. Courtesy Nicolas Lecourt Mansion

It’s Lebanon’s Anarchy That Bothers You.

That's the name of a new charity sale and exhibition opening on Friday, July 3, at Paris’s Galerie Charraudeau, with the aim of raising funds and awareness of the current plight of the Lebanese people.

Organised by Hala Moawad, founder of upcycled clothing label and celebrity favourite Momma’s Blues, the exhibition features works by more than 70 visual artists, photographers and fashion designers, including international names such as Jacquemus and Jean Paul Gaultier, and regional favourites Rabih Kayrouz, Noor Fares, Sandra Mansour and Nada Debs.

All proceeds from the initiative will go to Beit el Baraka, an NGO dedicated to Lebanese people living in increasingly precarious conditions.

While Moawad admits to having little interest in politics, she feels very strongly about injustice. And her experiences as part of the Lebanese diaspora – displaced and then shaped by Lebanon’s civil war – spurred her into action.

However minimal it might be, “I want to help the country on my level”, she says.

“I was born in France because of the war. I didn't see my father for about 80 per cent of my life because of the war. My grandfather got assassinated because of the war. And I am not an exception, I am one of a million. This should have stopped at the end of the war in 1996. But it starts over and over and over … We are a nation that is scattered and suffering. And today, our people are starving, by the hands of our own government," she says.

“Lebanon represents what the world should be in culture – a beautiful mess of identities. And it is one of the most amazing countries I’ve ever experienced. I don’t want it to end like this.”

So Moawad gathered friends from around the world and asked them to participate in a fundraiser.

“And they all accepted. I have about 75 artists gathered for this cause. Some of them established, others up and coming. Most of them are not even Lebanese or have never even been to Beirut, but feel the injustice and sadness.”

Beit el Baraka, which was officially licensed as a local NGO in 2018, now supports more than 300 families in Beirut.

In addition to providing home renovations for impoverished families, the NGO last year opened a community supermarket in Karm El Zeitoun, where beneficiaries of the organisation are able to shop for free.

The opening reception of It’s Lebanon’s Anarchy That Bothers You will take place on Friday, July 3, at Galerie Charraudeau, 3 rue Bonaparte, 75006, Paris.

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