Photographs play an important role in our lives; they connect us to the past and remind us of people, feelings, stories, and places. Sometimes, a simple image is worth thousands of words and ideas. They say that in photography. There is a reality so subtle that it becomes more real than reality. And not only does Beirut Image Festival represent some images, but also some deep messages.
Zakira, the Image Festival Association, in collaboration with Dar al Mussawir and the Union of Arab Photographers, is launching the first Beirut Image Festival that will take place from September 4th till October 4th. The festival is the first of its kind in Lebanon, and the second in the Arab World after Oman Image Festival, promoting the culture of the “image” in Lebanon and the Arab world.
The festival aims to be a platform supporting young talent and highlighting the works of emerging Lebanese, Arab, and international photographers. Reaching out to the Lebanese youth and promoting the photography culture, various schools and universities are collaborating with the association.
For one month, the festival will feature indoor and outdoor photography exhibitions in Beirut and other Lebanese cities including Saida, Tripoli, and Hammana. In this way, the festival will succeed in bringing to light creative talents from all over Lebanon and in supporting decentralization of cultural actualities.
The exhibitions in Beirut will take place at Beirut Souks, National Library, Leila Solh Hamadeh Hall, Beit Beirut, Cornish Ain El Mraisseh, and other places, each on a different date.
Besides, the festival will feature interactive workshops, open seminars, panel discussions, and photography-related exchange programs with Arab and international institutions.
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With all these activities and the festival’s professional program, the one-month photography fair will succeed in emphasizing the image as a means of communication, dialogue, documentation, archiving, and artistic expression, and a means of change.
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The Beirut Image Festival will include a tribute exhibit to the Lebanese-Palestinian pioneer female photographer Karima Abboud. Abboud was the first Arab woman to practice photography and opened the first studio dedicated to photographing females. She did so in her town of Bethlehem, which was the first of this kind in the Middle East.
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Different images with different stories and messages will be represented in the festival. Those images, with their artistic diversity, hold some deep meanings seeking to be explored. Try not to miss it!
May Beirut stays an active artistic and cultural hub, bringing together the Lebanese nation, the Arab World, the Mediterranean, and the rest of the world.
