Dihzahyners / Paint Up!

National Network
Lebanon
Address

Sakiet El Janzir
Beirut 1103
Lebanon

Telephone
+961-1-785944
E-Mail
jubran.elias@gmail.com
E-Mail (2)
lana.chukri@gmail.com
E-Mail (3)
catherinemoutran@gmail.com
E-Mail (4)
dihzahyners@gmail.com
Mobile Phone
+961-3-820258
Organisation Type
Non-Governmental Organization
Year of Establishment
2012
Fields of Activity
  1. Arts
General Information
‘Paint Up!’ is the brainchild of co-founders Lana Chukri and Jubran Elias. After establishing a team of talented and bright designers with whom they graduated with called “Dihzahyners” – the duo brought the team together in 2012 to recreate and rejuvenate broken and gloomy spaces in Beirut through a series of urban and street art initiatives that were later known as “Paint Up!” volumes. In developing this, their social enterprise and non-profit organization was born and began evolving into a living, breathing entity that resonated with artists, enterprises, and people worldwide. Dihzahyners is a team of inspired, driven & passionate artists/designers, aimed at creating initiatives to make Beirut brighter & more beautiful, through color. After their first event in Sakiet El Janzier on April 8th, 2012, founders Lana Chukri & Jubran Elias established their NGO, ‘Paint Up!’ where they and their team continued to set up what they called ‘Volumes’ of paint installations and interventions around Beirut. The inspiration came after Chukri & Elias had been researching ways to help and connect with their country, through urban design, and intervening in the public spaces/locations in Beirut for a while, and found that painting particular places that needed some uplifting would be an ideal medium to do so. Because they were always keen on being inspired through researching visuals from around the world of street art, graffiti, outdoor and urban design, they felt as designers that they could contribute to this powerful use of communication and expression. By starting small, with a team of 12 members, and focusing on stairs, they found they could gain awareness for bigger areas that needed attention such as larger walls and broken down spaces around Beirut.
Mission and Objectives

There comes a time, where you’re standing, high on the fumes of the city, looking out to the horizon, where your blood boils and you want to be those walls. You want to speak, you want a voice, one that the entire city sees as they walk by every day. That’s what we set out to do. We wanted to be able to disrupt the city, in a peaceful and non-invasive way; in a way which brings the communities some clarity, and transforms stairs into the bridges that connect our streets and alleyways.
By empowering the urban fabric of our city, through paint, through color; we all become the walls, the stairs, and the streets. We all share in each others smiles, laughter, fears, noise and silence.

Main Projects / Activities

Since we’ve started, we’ve had 7 major Paint Up ‘Volumes”, 3 exhibitions, and we’ve also teamed up on initiatives with Beirut Art Center, Ayadina, Achrafieh 2020, Live Love Beirut, Beirut Green Project, Dispatch Beirut, Kroum Ehden, Tedx, and a personal favorite Achillea’s ‘Waiting for the train’.

Contact (1) Full Name
Ms. Catherine Moutran
Job Title
PR & Communications
Head of the organisation
Mr. Jubran Elias & Ms. Lana Chukri