BEIRUT: Through the lens of 40 photographers, the Lebanese heritage was archived in a book titled “On Photography in Lebanon.” Byblos Bank and Kaph Books publishing house launched the book during an event that took place at the Sursock Museum, Thursday evening.
The collaborative publication, in which experts share their perspectives on photography in Lebanon, evokes its equally numerous forms of existence while examining techniques, practices, uses, objects, images, histories and artistic approaches. The publication presents 380 photographs produced between the end of the 19th century and the present day, organizers noted.
During the launch, 16 signatures were signed on the books that shuffled from buyers’ hands to the hands of the photographers who contributed in the three-year-long project.
According to Nada Tawil, head of group communication at Byblos Bank, this book is the first of its kind in Lebanon for what it portrays of history through photographs.
“On photography in Lebanon is a reference and an essential tool to inspire art lovers in general and emerging Lebanese photographers in particular, the latter being at the heart of our photography program,” said Tawil. “Indeed, this perennial initiative for Lebanon’s photographic legacy is an intrinsic part of celebrating our culture.”
From her part, Nour Salameh, co-editor of the book and founder of Kaph Books, expressed her intake on photography as a medium to inform and explained where images stand in this era.
“This publication comes at a time when the medium of photography is questioned, not only in the Middle East, but worldwide. What is photography? Why photography? Answers are endless,” said Salameh. “This is why, in this book, we invited several contributors from different backgrounds to share their point of view on photography, and select one to eight images each.”
Along with the photographs, texts in English or French described the images portrayed and the situation shot to complement the idea behind the images. The process of getting the work done was divided into six stages: Observing the photographs, arranging them according to their action mechanic, categorizing them in topics, putting them in a body outline, bringing photos to life in their placement plan and at last adding texts to images.
A presentation was conducted in the museum’s auditorium to introduce the book. Steering the topic was Clemence Cottard Hachem, the co-editor of the book.
“In both form and content, the book is intended to be treated as an object that can itself be questioned,” claimed Hachem. “At the same time the book is a flexible resource offering a multitude of answers to key questions about the Lebanese history.”
According to Gregory Buchankjian, a renowned photographer who contributed to the book, the project was a great way to merge photographers’ different disciplinary work.
“We had wedding photographers, art photographers, architecture photographers and many others who have the Lebanese culture documented in images,” said Buchankjian. “As an individual, I worked on capturing the ruins of the war and integrating ruined pictures, which were brought to life again.”
Not only did the book include historical pictures, but pictures from our present day, “pictures that were taken during the making of the book,” Salameh told Annahar.
According to Lara Tabet, a contributor to the book, a new image making method was introduced in the book.
“I specialize in image making in times of technology and social media, so my contribution was exchanging images through these platforms,” said Tabet. “This type of image making is crucial for a book like this one, which identifies itself in practical photography.”
According to Rouba Taouk, head of corporate communication unit, Byblos bank invested in creating this book because they believe that we lack history narration in our photo archive in Lebanon.
“This book doesn’t claim to be an inclusive encyclopedia about Lebanon, but it does justice in narrating the main stations,” said Taouk. “We came up with the idea, invested in it and chose Kaph Books to implement it, hoping that the new generation, which is Byblos’s target group, to learn more about their history.”
Byblos Bank has been supporting photography as an art form in Lebanon since 2012 as part of its broader mission to revive, sustain, and enriched Lebanon’s cultural heritage. This support is specifically geared towards emerging Lebanese photographers through the Byblos Bank Award for Photography, which has become one of the most prestigious prizes in artistic photography in Lebanon, organizers noted.
