Here and Perhaps Elsewhere

During the Lebanese civil war thousands of people disappeared In most cases the bodies were not found and the circumstances of their disappearance never known Today I travel through Beirut asking the inhabitants I encounter one same question Do you know anyone who was kidnapped here during the war My investigation carries me through the many districts around the Green line which used to divide Beirut between East and West and where militias set up their checkpoints the scenes of many kidnappings and crimes I thereby attempt to trigger the process of memory and to reveal the multiplicity of existing discourses on the war and the immensity of the drama As I cross town and discover places laden with history I draw a personal map of this city