Dihzahyners
Paint Up! Public Art
Dihzahyners is the brainchild of co-founders Lana Chukri and Jubran Elias. After establishing a team of passionate designers with whom they graduated – the duo launched a social enterprise in 2012 to rejuvenate broken and gloomy spaces in Beirut through a series of urban and street art initiatives that were later known as “Paint Up!” volumes. Dihzahyners grew to become one of the biggest urban and street art non-profit organisations in the Middle East with over 150,000 followers worldwide on social media; and countless collaborations across the region, as well as dozens of global media outlets including Tedx, Forbes, Vogue, Campaign, Dezeen, and Vice UK.
Beautifying Naba’a was a project created to bring together the Syrian and Lebanese youth from the ages of 13-18, in the turbulent areas of Naba’a and Bourj Hammoud, in Beirut, Lebanon.
The project kicked off with a series of artistic workshops, organized by my NGO 'Paint Up', and led by three of the top local artists in the region. In parallel to exploring means of communication through nonviolent and creative methods, the participants worked toward organizing live painting days in their neighborhood to execute what they learned. These took place in identified locations in Naba’a where community members were also invited to volunteer.
Videography by Creation Neuf
To celebrate the three months mark of this on-going project, a final intervention to paint up a run-down playground in the neighborhood was organized with the kids; inviting the community, as well as schools, charities, and even journalists and media from the region, to participate. The activities and music were curated by local artists as well, bringing the project to a beautiful close.
Collaborators: Recycle Beirut | C U NXT SAT | طنجرة ضغط - Tanjaret Daghet | L'Atelier | Save the Children | Live Love Beirut | Mad Visuals by Chad the Mad | Beirut Green Project | Ghaleb Hawila Calligraphy
Vice UK, 7UP
‘Feels Good to be you’
7UP® “Feels Good To Be You™” Film Series, shot by Vice UK LIMITED, showcases four unique individuals from around the world whose originality, charm, and passion are brought to life
in inspiring films; one of them being Dihzahyners.
For our feature, we had the teams from Vice & 7UP join us as we embarked on one of our biggest street art interventions, with local artists and volunteers, to paint and rejuvenate an abandoned staircase in the heart of Beirut, Lebanon.
“Visuals as puzzling & fun as the tongue twisters themselves.”
Tongue Twister
Street Art Mural
Dihzahyners were commissioned by Kalimat Group to execute a 12-meter long mural, inspired from a book of Arabic tongue twiters. The illustrations hide the words of each tongue twister in a witty puzzle for readers to decipher.
The mural was brought to life for the ‘Nehna w el Amar Jiran’ (The Moon & Us Are Neighbors) Festival, and is nested at the top of the Vendomme Stairs, in the buzzing district of Mar Mikhael, in Beirut, Lebanon.
Written by Fatima Sharafeddine
Published by Kalimat Publishing
Illustrated by Hanane Kai
Public Artwork by Dihzahyners
Some more of our artworks
Paint Up! Tetris
Paint Up! PatternsPaint Up! Triangles
Paint Up! Home of Hope