Today I Would Like to Be a Tree

Curated and Conceived by

ABED AL KADIRI 

The first edition of Today I Would Like to Be a Tree emerged in the aftermath of the Beirut port explosion on 4 August 2020, when Lebanese artist Abed Al Kadiri’s exhibition Remains of the Last Red Rose was buried beneath the rubble of Galerie Tanit. Since then, the initiative has evolved through a shared conviction that art can respond to violence not by turning suffering into an image, but by creating gestures of solidarity, repair, and material support.

In March 2026, as hostilities escalated and Israel launched its ground invasion of Lebanon, successive waves of displacement forced thousands of families to flee their homes. In response, Today I Would Like to Be a Tree entered its fourth edition, unfolding across three interconnected phases: psychosocial support and collective artistic sessions with more than 1,000 displaced children across Lebanon; artistic interventions by 36 invited artists, transforming 180 metres of children’s drawings into leporello artist’s books; and, finally, a touring fundraising exhibition opening at the Nuhad Es-Said Pavilion for Culture in Beirut. Bringing these phases together, the exhibition carries the children’s drawings beyond the schools and shelters where they first took shape, extending the project’s collective process into the public sphere while generating sustained support for the children’s education and long-term wellbeing.

Galerie Tanit is pleased to invite you to the opening of Today I Would Like to Be a Tree, an artist’s book fundraising exhibition, conceived and curated by Abed Al Kadiri, at the Nuhad Es-Said Pavilion for Culture.

Nabil Nahas receiving his laperollo book