Alya Stafford

A Piece of Home

My project A Piece of Home is a love letter to Lebanon. It serves as a memoir of people who’ve had to leave Lebanon because of the current political and economical crisis. It is a repository of testimonials and a desperate love letter to their country and families.

I interviewed 15 people aged between 18-30 years old and using these interviews, I collated them into a graphic novel called A Piece of Home. It is a compilation of their perspectives on migration and nostalgia to which most people in the diaspora can relate to. As I say in my foreword: 

"This book was created with the intention to remind people that they’re not alone while reminding ourselves of our similarities in the ways we remember our country. By assessing and acknowledging the universality of belonging, nostalgia and homesickness, highlighting similarities and reinforcing their inclusion in a same displaced group.”

I'm immensely proud of the final outcome which is an A5 book grouping together the responses I received from the interviews accompanied by illustrations I did based on them as well as photos taken by both me and my cousin: Zouheir Alameddine. This really was a passion project. 

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