UK artist Tom Young's new show set in Lebanon’s crumbling Grand Sofar Hotel

In the unique exhibition at the Sofar Grand Hotel in Lebanon, each and every painting by British painter Young depicts an event which happened in the hotel. Photo: AFP

Dotted with bullet holes and scarred by war, a once iconic hotel in Lebanon abandoned for more than 40 years is coming back to life through the paintings of an artist on a mission to revive the memories of its glorious past.

British artist Tom Young studies the history of abandoned buildings in Lebanon, many of them a reminder of the country’s civil war, and creates paintings based on old photographs, stories, architecture and their surrounding environment.