Spy Magazine Beirut 1996 article

Images: Spy Magazine July/August 1996

Does this city ever change? And does it ever stay the same? The photo-montages above date back to 1996 when Spy Magazine wrote an article about Beirut being the new must-see travel destination, the text and the photos could both fit today one way or the other - the income disparity, the schizophrenic ambiance, the nonchalance and the grim reality... But then, I suppose this has always been Beirut, this reminds me of a text I wrote long ago entitled "V/S":
"Versus is a separation between two entities, often if not always, antagonistic. The Sharks and the Jets, the Caputlets and the Montagnes, the north and the south, the good and the evil. But is there not a meeting point for antagonistic entities, for contradictions? And what if the reference point or axis of classification was inverted, does not this mean that what was north is now south and vice versa, what was good is now evil and the opposite true? Finally, someone had understood that the meeting place was more important than what it was meant to separate. Versus no more. Welcome to contradiction. Welcome to a city, much like snake, having to shed its skin periodically in order to survive. Welcome, you are entering Beirut."