حاريص
Harees
Some places never stop feeling like home, no matter how many years or miles separate us from them.
Harees is a mountain village in Jabal Amel, South Lebanon, rising approximately 750 meters above sea level. Its pine-lined entrance welcomes visitors into a landscape of winding roads, family homes, and hills.
The village has four natural springs, including Ain El Dayaa and Ain El Layadoun. They are not simply remnants of its past. The springs are still used today, connecting everyday life to generations who came before.
According to local tradition, Jesus, son of Mary, was protected here, and many connect the village’s name to that story.
For more than a century, families from Harees have traveled across the world, building lives abroad while maintaining their connection to the village. For many, home remains a place they carry with them.
This artwork began with Aya and her siblings, who wanted to commission something special for their father's birthday.
Her father is from Harees, a village he loves deeply but cannot currently return to because of circumstances beyond his control.
When Aya described what Harees meant to him, she spoke of family, warmth, childhood, and love.
They wanted to give him something that would bring those feelings a little closer.
The artwork highlights the village's pine-lined entrance, framed by elegant Arabic calligraphy. But what it preserves goes beyond the landscape. It holds the childhood spent there, the people who made it home, and the memories that remain long after we leave.
A birthday gift from children to their father.
A piece of the village he yearns for.
And a reminder that even when we cannot return to a place, we can still keep it close.
