Nadine Feghaly (Beirut, 1984) is a Lebanese illustrator and art therapist who has been living in Barcelona for 13 years. She’s sure to have come to the illustration world almost by chance and after trying different disciplines. Her illustrations, always poetic and dreamlike, deal with political issues and concerns of today’s world, such as the protection of the animal world and the environment, gender-related issues, wars and social justice, among others.
After studying graphic design in Lebanon and seeing that she could make a living as an illustrator, Nadine Feghaly settled in Barcelona, where she studied a postgraduate course in children’s book illustration. Nadine explains that she decided to settle in the Catalan capital due to similarities with Beirut: “The weather, the Mediterranean Sea, the people’s frame of mind… Besides, before arriving in Barcelona, I already danced flamenco in Lebanon! Adapting was easy and I always felt that the city was very kind to me,” she confesses. In Catalonia, she has also been trained in art therapy, although she is not currently working in that field.
Art as a political tool; art as therapy
When Nadine Feghaly was born, Lebanon was bleeding in the middle of a cruel civil war (1975-1990), which caused tens of thousands of deaths and displaced people, and which would mark a milestone in the country’s history. Until the age of seven, the artist lived in Beirut among the ravages of that war, which would leave a mark on her as in the rest of the children from her generation. Nadine says she remembers but a few things from that time, and yet those years are felt as the country’s collective trauma; and, particularly, in her parents’ generation. The war that she clearly remembers is that of 2006, when the Lebanese militia Hezbollah faced the Israeli army. The hostilities barely lasted a month, but that was enough for Nadine to realize that she did not want to continue living in Lebanon. It was also then that Nadine understood how important it was for her to express what she felt through her illustrations. When the United Nations Security Council passed resolution 1701, which had to end hostilities between the two combat parties, Feghaly had already made her decision to leave the country. “I have a very spiritual side and I truly believe in kindness. That is why it is so difficult for me to understand that there are wars, and that is why my drawings are full of questions. Since then, I use art to question many things. It came out unconsciously,” she says. Her drawings often convey a message: “I’m not interested in drawing only beautiful things, or showing that I know how to draw.” Through her alter ego, the character of Viola, the illustrator has managed to create a universe of her own where she can express her concerns. “Viola is a voice, an inner girl I listen to to channel the most sensitive part of me, the part of me that questions things. She was born in 2006 and I got her name in a Shakespeare’s play, in which there is a character called Viola who sometimes pretends to be a man, while other times she acts as a woman. Viola is also a musical instrument, a flower and a color.”
Lebanon, a country at the junction
In recent months, Lebanon has been at the epicenter of the war that began on October 7, 2023 between Hamas and Israel in the Gaza Strip. The attacks of the Israeli army have spread to the south of Lebanon, the Bekaa region, and to some districts of Beirut, the capital, for the support that the Lebanese militia of Hezbollah has stated towards the Palestine Militia Hamas, who until October 7 controlled Gaza. The peak of recent attacks between Israel and Lebanon took place between September 17 and 18, 2024, when dozens of pagers and Walkie-Talkies exploded simultaneously in a coordinated attack by Mossad. Since then, Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon have not stopped. Although it is true that on November 27, a ceasefire was reached, hostilities continue to occur for now and the violations of this truce have continued to take place, which has led to the displacement of both Lebanese and Israeli population.
Nadine Feghaly suffers from everything that is happening in her country. “It is a beautiful land and people are very warm, but it is also a chaotic country without justice, although people take care of each other. After all the chaos and 15 years of civil war … citizens have really come together. On the other hand, it is also a country divided between those who support resistance and those who do not. Without resistance, however, Israel would have invaded us. This issue is very divisive. There is also a lot of international pressure,” she says.
Before Lebanon was immersed in the Gaza Strip War, however, the country was already having a difficult time as a result of the important financial crisis in 2019, with the devaluation of the pound (which lost more than 98% of its value). This caused much of the citizenry to lose the savings of a lifetime. In addition, the explosion at the port of Beirut in 2020, which left more than 200 deaths and incalculable losses, and the Covid-19 pandemic, also contributed to aggravating the situation in the country. The liquidity crisis linked to inflation, corruption on the part of the political class and mismanagement have caused the country to have to request humanitarian aid in foreign countries
In these years, the economic instability of a country with less than six million inhabitants located at a strategic point in the Middle East has gone hand in hand with significant political instability. After more than two years with a government in the hands of Najib Mikati (since legislative elections in May 2022), the country has been able to constitute a new executive. Just a few weeks ago, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun appointed Nawaf Salam as Prime Minister. Important tasks, such as the end of hostilities with Israel and the country’s economic refueling, depend on him.
“All children are born drawing,” you once said in an interview. You not only draw, but your illustrations also have a message and that is why you are considered an activist. Where does this concern come from and when did you decide to turn it into your job?
As all kids, I drew as a child, but I never thought that I would end up dedicating myself to it. My parents had enrolled me in painting, dancing, music lessons… but painting was not something that caught my attention at the time. It was after having studied graphic design, however, that I approached the world of illustration. I started with a blog and then in 2006 the war between Israel and Lebanon broke out. That moment was key. I felt that there were a lot of things I wanted to explain, and I couldn’t stop writing and illustrating. It was then that the character of Viola was born, almost by chance. I included it on the blog and people reacted to it in a very positive way, which encouraged me to continue. From then on, I made contact with children’s publishers and realized that I could make a living out of it.
Is there anyone in your field that you look up to as a referent?
At first I was very focused on comic book artists, because at the time I used to read a lot of comics. Now, however, I have managed to have a definite style and I try not to pay much attention to what others do. I want to keep my authenticity.
Your drawings include recurring themes such as environmental protection, feminism, the Palestinian cause … Has it always been the case? Have you always conceived your illustrations as a tool for transmitting an idea or to raise awareness of specific issues?
When I was younger, I had a hard time when I had to name things and the word ‘politics’ really made me uneasy. Now I see all this in a different way and I think art is always political. When I lived in Lebanon, I did a lot of street art, and above all I worked on environmental issues. In Beirut, for example, there were almost no green spaces or bike lanes. This allowed me to use the character of Viola to protest on these and other topics, and to raise visibility. It is not possible for me to be silent when I see something unfair and I love to use art as a weapon. I feel uneasy not being able to do anything. There are people who speak, people who fight … I have found my way of protesting. Art has always played a very important role in history, when stirring awareness, visible topics, promoting empathy… Sometimes, with just one drawing you can get people to put themselves in the place of a suffering animal or girl. As for the Palestine cause … What can we do in front of the magnitude of the tragedy? I feel so small… but then I found a way to confront the whole thing: I created stickers with the illustration of a Palestinian girl and, when I went out, I stuck them in different places. It’s my way of helping.
While living in Lebanon, how was the relationship with the Palestinian community that lived there?
Unfortunately, the Palestinians in Lebanon are not very integrated, so I never got to treat them much.
And how do you feel about what is happening in Gaza and what happened and still happens in Lebanon?
The start of the war was a huge shock for everyone. How can you live so close to a genocide? For me it has always been a very difficult topic, because I consider it all very unfair. There have been times when I have done many illustrations on the subject; Especially from the prism of collective mourning. In Barcelona I have gone to all the demonstrations there and since the war started I have met new people with whom I have cried and yelled. It is too much, especially when you see that days go by and nothing changes, and we continue on the street but nothing changes. It is very frustrating. The attacks in Lebanon occurred shortly after and then I just got depressed. Talking to my friends there and my family made me feel so bad. I was told that they couldn’t sleep because of the noise and sometimes I stayed awake with them. On top of it all, there is that thing when you realize that your memories are being erased from the map, that the places you have lived in are no longer there. It is too much. September, October and November were too difficult months and I could barely draw a thing. Reality made no sense at all.
In the 13 years you have been in Barcelona, would you say that your gaze and illustrations have changed? Is Lebanon still present in your illustrations?
Many years have passed. Maybe it is more present when impactful things happen, things that move me. But now I no longer draw as many things related to Lebanon as I used to, but I still make illustrations that deal with feminism and the empowerment of women or the protection of the environment.
It is precisely these two subjects, ecofeminism and environmentalism, that are key in your career. They are also two topics that are in the spotlight of global far -right movements and parties, some of which already control some places in the world. As an illustrator, but also as a woman and as a citizen, how do you perceive everything that is happening?
I confess that I am shocked by everything that is happening. It gives me the impression that we pay too much attention and dedicate too much energy to a series of characters like Trump. This attention we give them makes them stronger, and I do not want to make them stronger. It’s what my intuition tells me. I think we are going back in certain things, such as abortion. Let us women and trans people alone. Let us all be. In the face of this situation, all we can do is continue to fight and join with people who think like us. And just keep going. But still, I really don’t understand much of what’s going on, to be honest.
Apart from being an activist, you are also an art therapist.
I have a master’s degree in Art Therapy and, before Covid, I was doing workshops for free education schools and civic centers, families and groups. I used to have a lot of work, but after the pandemic I moved away from it a little, even though I continue to use therapy with myself. Now I have somehow come back to it and I am currently accompanying a six -year -old Gazian girl who has lost her home. I would like to be able to accompany more people, because I believe in art therapy a lot .
Do you think that all artistic creation must be political?
I don’t think so. For example, my work also has something which is very spiritual, especially in terms of connecting with nature. Although, depending on how you look at it, that might also be seen as political. Let people do what they want to do. What I do believe in, however, is that art is a very powerful political tool; that is, if you understand politics not as a right or left -wing thing, but as a concept that has to do with human values. But yes, there might be art that is not political.
What would you like to draw in the future? A drawing that at the same time is a wish.
The connection to the earth. I wish we were more respectful with it, because we are treating it so badly we are destroying it. But despite everything, I still think sometimes you have to get to know the dark places first so you can recognise the light after that. What is happening in Palestine may have served so that everyone now knows where Gaza is and is aware of the conflict there. Everyone has watched the videos, the live streamings that have been made from there, and I believe that can have a unifying effect that brings us all closer together.
Not much ago there was a meeting between Arabic women artists at the Faberllull Residence, where you put a series of topics on the table. Which topics were discussed?
Yes, it was very rewarding to be able to sit there and speak; especially since in the Arab countries it is common for men, not women, to be in those conversations, and men often occupy the space of knowledge. It was very nice to be there only with other women. We were about ten women and, since we dealt with different topics, the opinions we expressed were also diverse. Some of us were part of a diaspora, while others were not… After being there for a couple of days, all those pagers in Lebanon exploded. I was very disturbed by the contrast of being in such a beautiful place and at the same time knowing that all that was happening in my country. When the explosion took place in Beirut in 2020 I felt the same way. It was very difficult for me to process the images I was receiving.
