Nadel Al Taoba (Homs, 27 years old) was very far from Beirut when on Tuesday, August 4, there was an explosion in a warehouse in the port of the Lebanese capital, which left hundreds of people dead and thousands of injured. Still, this Syrian-Palestinian graphic designer, currently residing in Germany, felt something explode within him. "I felt a lot of anger, a great anger at what is happening in the Arab world in general and in the Middle East in particular," the young man who previously lived in Beirut told Verne by email. From that anger was born the latest collage that Al Taoba has created and shared on its social networks and that in recent days has gone viral, with publications that add up to tens of thousands of retweets.
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الشرق الأوسط! The middel east countries! . . . 📸 Omar Haj Kadour. Syria 📸 Hatem Moussa. Palestine 📸 Reuters. Iraq 📸 Mohammed Hamoud. Yemen 📸 Goran tomasevic. Libya © ️ Nedal Al Taoba # Nedal2b #Art #Artist #arte #artwork #artistsoninstagram #collageart #collageartist #collageartwork #instagram #photooftheday #world #war #themiddeleast #middeleast #arab #Syria #lebanon #yemen #iraq #libya #palestine # graphicdesign # اذهب_بعيدا # لبنان # سوريا # فلسطين # اليمن # العراق # ليبيا
A post shared by Nedal Al Taoba - نضال التوبة (@nedal_altaoba) on Aug 8, 2020 at 7:37 PDT
"Explosions, massacres, death, destruction, poverty and wars!", Adds the author. That is precisely what this design reflects, which mixes images of countries such as Lebanon, Iraq, Palestine, Syria and Libya, united by a large column of smoke resulting from explosions, caused by those wars that Al Taoba talks about, or accidents. like that of Beirut, which has exacerbated the serious social and economic wound that the country has suffered for years.
Al Taoba can imagine the pain of seeing the Lebanese capital devastated by the explosion triggered by the storage of 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate. He lived there for several years after fleeing Syria, where "he was also a refugee," he explains. His family first fled Palestine after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war that displaced thousands of inhabitants who still today remain refugees within their own territory (Historic Palestine) or in other Middle Eastern countries such as Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. According to the United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Middle East (UNRWA), 5.4 million Palestinians currently live in camps located in the middle of the Syrian conflict.
The photographs that Al Taoba has used for this collage belong to several photojournalists, friends of the young Syrian-Palestinian, and to whom he acknowledges the authorship of the images in his Instagram post. He also does it with other designs that he creates and publishes on his account on this social network, where he has more than 18,000 followers. Compositions with which he tries to reflect "the contradictions of the world". "I think my work has become very popular because it speaks all the languages of the world and speaks about everything that people want to speak," says the young Syrian-Palestinian.
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شاب يقف على شاطئ جزيرة ليسبوس اليونانية بسعادة بعد وصوله لبر الأمآن من أحد القوارب بعد عبمور بحر إيلجة اركسك بحر إيلجة البور بحر إيتجة A young man stands on the shore of the Greek island of happily after arriving in mainland From a boat after crossing the Aegean Sea from the Turkish coast. . . . 📸 Santi Palacios AP # Nedal2b #Art #artist #artwork #artistsoninstagram #collageart #collageartwork #collage #collageartist #europe #photography #photooftheday #liverpool #football #mosalah #salah #egypt #greek #refugees #refugeesupport #turkey #يذهب # لاجئين # ليفربول # صلاح # محمد_صلاح # كرة_القدم # لجوء_إنساني # تركيا
A post shared by Nedal Al Taoba - نضال التوبة (@nedal_altaoba) on Jul 21, 2020 at 1:34 PDT
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منتهى ذات الثلاث سنوات ، تدفئ يديها على النار أمام المبنى حيث تعيش مع عائلتها في غرفة واسدة في و رفة واسدة في و رفة واسدة في و فرفة واسدة في و ن رفة واسدة في و نرفة واسدة في و رفة ' one room in Aleppo, Syria 2018.. . . 📸 Khurd Al-Issa @unicef # Nedal2b #collageartists #collageartwork #artwork #war #art #artist #syrianchildren #instagram #savethechildren #creative #attack #Russia #assad #syria #damascus #aleppo #world #photooftheday #children # ايهب_ سوريا # حلب # روسيا # فن # الثورة_السورية # اطفال_سوريا # العالم # طفل
A post shared by Nedal Al Taoba - نضال التوبة (@nedal_altaoba) on Jul 7, 2020 at 2:13 PDT
The designer, who currently works in a restaurant in Germany, does not benefit from these images: "I do it to express my anger at seeing what is happening in these countries and to draw attention to injustice." As Al Taoba himself says, he started making these collages in 2018 with a mobile application because he didn't have a computer. "Then I was able to buy one and started using a professional design program."
Before exercising this virtual activism, Al Taoba also did it on the streets of his native Homs. The young man says that in 2011, during one of the demonstrations against the government of Bashar Al-Assad, he was shot by the security forces of the Syrian regime who later pointed him out for "my activity in the Syrian revolution." "I had to flee to Lebanon," he says. But there, too, he was persecuted for "being a Palestinian." "I was tired of the Arab world due to injustice, tyranny, murder, destruction ... I wanted a better and safer life," he says. In 2015, he began his journey by sea and land, like thousands of other refugees, until he reached Germany, where he now legally resides with his wife and "from where I am aware of all the events that occur in the Middle East."
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لاجئ سوري يتمسك بابنته وهو ينتظر العبور إلى تركيا عند بوابة أككالي الحدودية في مقاطعة شانلي أورفا, تركيا, 15 يونيو / حزيران 2015. A Syrian refugee holds onto as His daughter have to cross into Turkey waits at border gate Akcakale in Sanliurfa province, Turkey, June 15, 2015.. . . 📸 Umit Bektas | @reuters # Nedal2b #art #artist #collageart #collageartist #collageartwork #artwork #artworks #photooftheday #artistsoninstagram #instagram #monicabellucci #italia #malena #film #turkey #syria #refugees #syrianrefugees #syrianrevranolution #warsaworld # # سوريا # اذهب_بعيدا # لاجئين # تركيا # الشعب_السوري # ايران
A post shared by Nedal Al Taoba - نضال التوبة (@nedal_altaoba) on May 17, 2020 at 6:00 PDT
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عائلة سورية تفترش الأرض وسط الدمار الذي خلف الطيران الروسي وطيران النظام السوري وتقيم وجبة إفاطار في شهنة إمامار في شهنة إمامار في شهنة إمامار في شهنة مامار في شهنة مامار في شهنة مامار في شهنة. A Syrian family scatters the ground amid the devastation that left Russian and Syrian regime warplanes and holds a Ramadan iftar in the northwestern Syrian city of Arihah. . . . 📸 @aaref_watad | @afpphoto # Nedal2b #art #artist #artistsoninstagram #artwork #collageart #collage #collageartwork #collageartist #photooftheday #photoshop #syria #idlib #savesyria #syrianrevolution #ramadan # ramadan2020 #ramadanmubarak #russia #assad #Iran #ksa # #qatar #israel # اذهب_بعيدا # سوريا # رمضان_كريم # ادلب
A post shared by Nedal Al Taoba - نضال التوبة (@nedal_altaoba) on May 8, 2020 at 6:56 PDT
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