Epicenter
Beirut
Lebanon, 2023

For years, these concrete grain silos marked the mouth of Beirut’s port as a massive and seemingly indestructible landmark. They had withstood wars, shelling, and political upheaval, and in doing so came to be seen as an image of endurance. After the explosion of 4 August 2020, that meaning shifted abruptly. Severely damaged yet not immediately erased, the silos became the haunting remnant of a disaster that killed more than two hundred people and devastated large parts of the city.

Precisely because they absorbed part of the blast, they came to signify for many residents not only a ruin, but also a silent witness to negligence and loss. In the summer of 2022, after prolonged fires, parts of the northern section collapsed, followed by further collapses in early August and later that month. Since then, the structure has remained in memory as a wounded monument, charged with grief, anger, and remembrance. The title Epicentre points to this ambiguity: the silos stand both for physical destruction and for the place where collective memory settles.