Motorcycle riders pass a mural of Fairuz, a legendary Lebanese singer, on a street in Mar Mikhael after the Beirut Blast destroyed half the city on August 4th, 2020. In the following days, young people would come out in the dozens from all over the country to help clean Beirut and make it somewhat livable. On August 8th, when the people went down to protest, they were met with rubber bullets, tear gas, live ammunition, metal pellets, and beatings from Lebanese security on top of the pandemic and economic crisis that they were dealing with.

Rita Kabalan is a Lebanese-American photojournalist based in Beirut. Her photographic practice focuses on migration, refugees, social movements, uprisings, and environmental issues. Her focus is from her personal journey when she left Lebanon at the age of ten due to the civil war that ravaged the country. Living in it now, Rita views how post war the country has been damaged by environmental issues and corruption. Her work has been featured in Foreign Policy, Middle East Eye, Guernica, Le Temps and The Public Source, among others. I’m also a contributor to the Everyday Middle East Instagram account. This image was selected by juror Shamim M. Momin to be included in PCNW’s 24th juried exhibition, Time Capsule.