Ouzville: Ashekman’s New Mural in the Heart of Ouzai
I love Ashekman. I have all their clothes, know all their murals, heck they even designed one of my three tattoos.
Last week, the twins reunited in Beirut to paint this beautiful Grendizer mural in the heart of Ouzai, just a stone’s throw away from the airport.
This comes weeks after Retna painted one of his masterpieces in an Ouzai public school. These magnificent murals are part of an awesome initiative by Ayad Nasser, who hopes to turn Ouzai into a mural heaven, and a street art destination like Wynwood is in Miami, or Bushwick in Brooklyn, or Christiania in Copenhagen.
What’s nice is that if you’re flying into Beirut, the chaotic mess of concrete is slowly becoming more colorful, and full of life instead of the dusty grey.
This project might not solve the underlying problems neglected neighborhoods like Ouzai have faced for decades. Ouzai is a neighborhood most of you pass through on the way to the airport, but never really venture into and explore.
I hope this project will make more people wanna visit, and more artists come and transform its buildings into colorful works of art. Omar from Ashekman tells me there’s an awesome fish sandwich restaurant in the area. I’m gonna try to go down with them, see the work firsthand and understand more about this ambitious project. Oh, and to try that fish place too.
