Samir Kassir Trophy

RETHY TAMBOURGI explains her creation

The events of the year just gone by have thrown every Lebanese citizen into a state of confusion. However this time, instead of simply suffering them as usual, each one of us got involved in them one way or another.
Some, like Samir Kassir, have even caused them and have testified in the name of freedom and truth to the point of death.

As an artist established in Paris, I wanted, for once, to stop consuming what my country presented me with: its sun, its beaches, its quality of life and even its political affairs, to finally bestow what I myself had to offer.

The contest organized by the Delegation of the European Commission and the Samir Kassir Foundation provided me with the opportunity to express my gratitude to all those who, like Samir Kassir, have at long last wished for Lebanon to be shaped by the voice of its people.

My idea was to sculpt a bird bearing multiple symbolisms:

- Through its feathers, it conjures up the art of writing and free flight (free as a thought…). But it also looks like a warrior, for its feathery body acts as an armor and a weapon, as indeed does his writing to a journalist (he attacks as well as defends).
This breastplate protects the most precious part of his being: his heart; the fountain from which he draws both his strength and his courage.

- I have named this sculpture “A Bird for All Seasons” for not only is Samir Kassir the man behind the very existence of the “Spring of Beirut”, he also happens to be the man of the seasons of ice, distress and misfortune. Last but not least, he is a bird without the need for seasons, for he travels beyond time, such as the Phoenix.