Lebanese artist turns shrapnel from Israeli strikes into 'silent witnesses'

Lebanese visual artist Lina Jouni is transforming shrapnel, metal and debris collected from buildings hit by Israeli strikes into sculptures that she calls silent witnesses to destruction and displacement, Hürriyet Daily News reported.

Jouni began working with the material after returning home following the 2024 war. Sorting through broken glass, stones, metal and cables around her house, she decided the debris carried traces of a period that should not be forgotten. After experimenting with glass, she turned to shrapnel, keeping its rust, curves and marks and altering it as little as possible. The fragments now take the shape of faces, hands and abstract figures.

Some pieces she gathers herself; others are brought by people in her community. Her works reference the killings in Nabatieh, the 2024 pager explosions and strikes on vehicles. "I turned these pieces, which symbolise destruction, into instruments of life that tell the story of our survival," she said.

Collecting remains difficult, she said, because some areas hit in 2024 are still inaccessible due to security risks and drones. Rebuilding, she added, "means bringing life back."