In the aftermath of the August 4, 2020 explosion at the Port of Beirut, which caused significant loss of life, injury, and destruction, Rima Najdi was invited to perform at a fundraising event aimed at supporting Lebanon. This catastrophic event, happening during an economic crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, mobilized Lebanese citizens and the global community to organize relief efforts. The invitation to Najdi, however, became a site for performative inquiry into identity politics. Najdi saw her inclusion in the event as an act of instrumentalization, where her Lebanese identity was foregrounded to signify the crisis itself. Her presence became emblematic of the aid narrative, where cultural identity is commodified within the frameworks of international artistic platforms and humanitarian discourse.

Through her performance, Najdi engaged critically with the performative tropes of Lebanese identity, challenging the exoticized and essentialized representations often projected by foreign audiences. Her work interrogated the neo-colonial dimensions of international aid, not only questioning the politics of representation but also the performative mechanisms that structure global solidarity campaigns. By occupying the space between artist and cultural signifier, Najdi's performance opened a dialogue on the complex entanglements of identity, crisis, and the politics of global aid in contemporary performance contexts.

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