In 2005, I realized that one of the most violent responses to tragedy lies in a calm state of mind and in the soothing effect one brings to their environment. I had found myself transported from a screaming demonstration to complete stillness. Following the assassination of the former Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafic Hariri, I left Beirut, my hometown, amid its chaos for Japan. Among rice fields, I spent the next seven years in utter quietude, learning a new language while making paper. In 2007, the Chuetsu-oki earthquake hit Niigata: the area where I lived. I was working the land; planting, harvesting, and peeling the bark of trees used for creating this artwork. Following seasonal changes, methodical rhythms are used to make editions of paper. I studied how to make paper of archival quality called washi. On many levels it was not just about the papermaking process itself as much as it was about living in a new culture while learning a new language. In a meditative process I found expressions that are present within this paper.
