Enjoy

Saturday afternoon while wandering around Hamra, we passed this:

I'll go ahead and call it site-specific art. The site is an urban sidewalk in Hamra. The art consists of a piece of sod and an identifying sign (intentionally referential to Beirut's signs denoting sites of cultural interest) which reads "Enjoy your green space". My kid's in the shot to provide scale.

There is a sense among Beirut's residents that green spaces are too rare, concrete too prevalent, and what parks there are should be better maintained. I'm inclined to agree, mostly because of my personal desire for parks and grass for my kids.

But, if I had to choose one critique to make of Beirut, or if I had the opportunity to channel my creativity and artistic energy into challenging a single aspect of life here--promoting the importance of green space would not be that single thing. It wouldn't even make the top ten. And that's all I'm saying about that.

I don't want to be too critical or hard on this specific piece of social commentary. It's well executed, direct, and laced with just the right amount of wit and snark.