Exclusive:'Difficult' not to think about conflict during Highlands residency says artist from war-torn Lebanon

Yasmine Rifaii, from Lebanon, was granted a four week residency at Cove Park, on the west coast's Rosneath Peninsula, to produce sculptures in a project funded by the British Council and Creative Scotland to support artists affected by conflict.

Ms Rifaii said she found it difficult to switch off from the conflict going on in her home country.

"It was hard to think about anything other than what was happening back home," she said. “Being at Cove Park while Lebanon is at war was challenging and difficult sometimes. But my work also references home in a way, and the people.

“So instead of reading and commenting on the news, I tried to surrender to another material language which I hadn’t thought through in a long time.”

The UK Government’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) advises against all travel to large parts of Lebanese capital Beirut, where Ms Rifaii is based - as well as huge swathes of the country around its borders with Syria. It states that although a ceasefire in the conflict between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah came into force in November, the security environment “remains unpredictable” with airstrikes and artillery fire often aimed at Lebanese targets by the Israeli Defence Forces.

Yasmine is one of nine artists from Lebanon, Yemen, Palestine and Ukraine taking part in the residencies at leading cultural institutions across the UK. The time at Cove Park offered her a chance to reflect on her work spanning curatorial, editorial and visual art.

At Cove Park, Ms Rifaii, also the creative director of Beirut’s Haven for Artists, a feminist cultural organisation dedicated to knowledge production explored new materials and concepts, eventually creating an installation in response to the tension she felt around the near-by nuclear base at Loch Long.

She said: "I sketched, took photos, sculpted with clay, and I created an installation called Daydreams of The Razor Fleet.

"The focused alone time has been essential to me, the distance and silence it granted me was necessary to my artmaking process. Nature is so abundant, and the beauty of the hills and trees surrounding the Loch infused the work I made at Cove Park.”

She has previously visited Scotland during the Edinburgh Festivals.

She said: “During August, I was in the heart of Edinburgh, which was bustling with people and art shows wherever you go. Here at Cove Park, other than the residents and the lovely team, my main companions were the highland cows, the herons, and a little robin that spent its mornings near my window."

Norah Campbell, head of arts at British Council Scotland, said: "We're proud to provide artists like Yasmine with the time and support to create, reflect, imagine new futures, and build lasting connections.

“Scotland's cultural sector has a strong tradition of international collaboration, and residencies like this show how artistic exchange can build understanding and trust across the world."

The ongoing residencies build on a successful pilot held in Scotland in 2023 developed during the UK/Ukraine Season of Culture, delivered by the British Council in partnership with Creative Scotland and the Ukrainian Institute.

Three more residencies will be taken up in Scotland over the next six months at Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop, Moniack Mhor, and Pier arts Centre in Orkney, all hosting artists effected by conflict.