Press Conference & launch

Basbous' garden in Rachana

​I was delighted to be invited to lead a Land Art Festival in Lebanon this summer. It wasn't a country I had visited before and I was excited to see a new place and meet new people.

Rachana village is home to the Basbous family and my invite came from the Rachana Foundation after an idea by the well known sculptor Anachar Basbous. Anachar is the son of Michel Basbous who in the preceeding decades along with his brothers had transformed the village with dozens of monumental sculptures of stone and other materials while building an international reputation with their work being shown in reknowned galleries all around the world.

Anachar continues their legacy, a very talented scuptor in his own right who specialises in steel, and his idea was to try and start an environmental movement in the Middle East by inspiring people through land art.

Anachar Basbous speaking at the launch

​​Prior to the festival itself I was invited to Rachana for the launch and press conference to meet everyone involved and give a speech to the assembled dignitaries. It was a whirlwind trip of travelling, a day to meet everyone, the launch event conference, a speech and many interviews before returning home the next day.

With the heady mix of a new country, a new culture, meeting so many people and the outstanding art dotted around Rachana it was a pinch me moment when I got home as it seemed that it all must've been a dream. 

We were very much looking forward to visiting again in July for the festival itself.

Delivering my speech