Exhibition Featuring 300 Copies of Munitions Used in Strikes on Lebanon Opens in Portugal — The National
The Handle with Care exhibition by Lebanese-Canadian researcher and artist Elias Nafaa has opened at the MUZEU – Thought & Contemporary Art dst museum in Braga, Portugal. The installation consists of 300 semi-transparent scaled-down copies of munitions and missiles that, according to the author’s research, were used during Israeli strikes on Lebanon.
As The National reports, the resin casts were created based on six types of aerial munitions. The number of models of each type corresponds to the frequency of their recorded use in Nafaa’s research. The author deliberately chose a fragile material to turn objects associated with destruction into vulnerable objects.
Strike data
For the project, Nafaa used open data from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, Beirut Urban Lab, Public Works Studio and other platforms. He initially analyzed 8,016 Israeli strikes recorded in Lebanon from October 2023 to September 2024. According to his calculations, by March 2026 the number of such strikes had risen to 15,520.
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The article also notes that the current number of strikes is likely to exceed 20,000 due to intensified shelling since March 2026, although an exact count is still underway. According to the artist’s research, artillery shells accounted for 40% of documented weapon types, particularly in areas near Lebanon’s southern border. White phosphorus munitions accounted for 20%, cluster munitions for 15%, and JDAMs, including so-called bunker-buster bombs, for 12%.
Sound and documentation
The installation is complemented by Tender Grounds, a sound work by Lebanese artist Cynthia Zaven. It combines recordings of the hum of drones, low-flying aircraft, artillery strikes and pauses of silence. Nafaa said he wanted to give sound the role of a “seventh type of weapon” that has no visual equivalent.
Charts, information on weapon types, the nature of targets, and strike-tracking data are displayed alongside the sculptures. The exhibition also includes materials from investigations into the use of white phosphorus and its consequences for the environment and civilians. Handle with Care will run in Braga until October 18.
