ARTIST WINS GOLD MEDAL FOR LEBANON IN BEJJING OLYMPIC GAMES
By Mohammed Zaatari

Daily Star
d=1&categ_id=1&article_id=94889
Aug 8 2008
Lebanon

BEIRUT: A painting by Lebanese artist Lina Kilikian won the gold
medal at an international exhibition of art in China preceding and
accompanying the 2008 Olympic Games opening on Friday in Beijing. For
the exhibit entitled Colors and the Olympics, in which hundreds of
sculptures and paintings by about 700 artists from 81 countries
around the world were competing, Kilikian submitted three works,
one of which won.

Kilikian will travel to the Chinese capital on Saturday to receive the
gold medal and an Olympic torch as an award for her winning painting
called "The Terrestrial Globe During the 21st Century."

Kilikian said she produced the painting in August 2006 – just after
the war with Israel – in Mount Lebanon’s Bolonia, amid hundreds of
families fleeing from the bombing.

"I was holding a blank paper and some painting pens, so I drew what
I was feeling at that moment. I drew the way wars can change the
landmarks of the terrestrial globe and hurt human beings along with the
pollution and the catastrophes of the nature," she told The Daily Star.

"This painting reflects the suffering of the earth and human
beings. Yet, it leaves some white spaces for hope. That is how I
was seeing the globe at that moment. I am proud of this award, and
I offer it to my country, Lebanon, which has started paving the way
to stability and prosperity," she added.

Kilikian is a multi-faceted artist who is interested in abstract
and religious art, and in the creation of cities. With her numerous
paintings and murals, she has participated in various exhibitions in
Lebanon and around the world.

Kilikian also serves as president of the Lebanon chapter of the
Association of Women Innovating in the Mediterranean.