Rooted in the South
Trab El Jnub — تراب الجنوب — means “Soil of the South.”
It began with a simple idea: to create a space where art, writing, memory, and community could come together.
Rooted in South Lebanon and carried across generations and distances, Trab El Jnub celebrates the landscapes, stories, and people that continue to shape us. What began as a collaboration in art and words has grown into a way of carrying those connections into everyday life.
The Artist — Ali Hadid
Ali Hadid is a Lebanese painter whose work draws from the landscapes and memories of Lebanon — stone homes, mountains, trees, open meadows, and the quiet spaces that often carry the deepest meaning.
His paintings are not simply depictions of places. They hold memory, belonging, and the feeling of home.
Through Trab El Jnub, Ali's original paintings move beyond the canvas and into pieces that can be lived with, worn, shared, and carried.
The Writer — Hussein Joumaa
Through poetry, prose, and philosophical reflection, Hussein Joumaa explores questions of memory, identity, time, belonging, and the inner life.
His writing and Ali's paintings come together in Soil of the South, a collaboration in art and words shaped by a shared connection to Lebanon and a desire to preserve what can sometimes be difficult to express through either image or language alone.
More Than Art
Trab El Jnub is not only about what we create.
It is about the people around it.
Community, creativity, and genuine expression are at the heart of the project. We believe art can create connection — between generations, between people living near and far, and between the places we come from and the lives we build elsewhere.
Every piece begins with a real person and a real story.
From the South, Carried Everywhere
Whether it is a painting displayed at home, words read from a page, or artwork carried on something worn every day, each piece is meant to preserve a connection to something larger than itself.
A memory. A landscape. A story. A piece of home.
Trab El Jnub | تراب الجنوب