Lebanon Then and Now — Photography from 2006 to 2020 is an upcoming virtual exhibition depicting some of the social, economic, and political upheavals that Lebanon experienced since after the conclusion of the civil war until recently.
The photo exhibition will be launched by the Washington-based Middle East Institute (MEI) in collaboration with the Institut du Monde Arabe (Paris) and the Beirut Museum of Art (USA), this weekend, and will run until September 25th.
It highlights the correlation between the events that Lebanon experienced over the past few decades and everything the country is presently going through. It combines the past and the present under one virtual artistic roof.
The show features 17 photographers and a filmmaker and exhibits 50 images taken over many years. Lebanese curator Chantale Fahmi chose the pictures from two exhibitions that took place separately in 2019.
The first is the Institut du Monde Arabe’s Lebanon: Between Reality and Fiction, held in Paris, and the second is the Association for the Promotion and Exhibition of the Arts in Lebanon’s Revolt, which took place in Beirut.
The Paris show explored the many facets of the aftermath of the devastating 15-year-long Lebanese civil war, while the Beirut show documented the protests and events of the October 17 uprising.
Combined, the photographs from both shows portray a visual storyline that links Lebanon’s historical events to the recent popular movements and the prevailing crises that fueled them.
Originally planned as a physical exhibit in the newly-launched MEI Art Gallery in Washington, D.C., Lebanon Then and Now — Photography from 2006 to 2020 was changed into a virtual show due to the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
It comes at a time when the Lebanese residing in Lebanon struggle through the worst financial and economic conditions that were unequaled even during the numerous conflicts the country witnessed over the past decades.
