They Knew

Lebanon is currently undergoing multiple humanitarian and economic crises, all of which have been caused by a corrupt and greedy political elite class. They Knew responds to the lack of accountability in regard to the devastating explosion at the port of Beirut in August 2020 and the current economic depression. The work refers to the political and business elites smuggling money outside the country just before the currency devaluation. A significant part of their (our) money ended up in Swiss banks. They Knew also points to the government’s knowledge of the existence of the highly explosive material stored illegally in the city’s port. In the aftermath of the explosion, a graffiti appeared, was erased, then resurfaced again. It states: “my government did this.”