Photographers sell prints to support humanitarian efforts in Lebanon

Photographers sell prints to support humanitarian efforts in Lebanon

A group of Lebanese and French photographers are selling limited edition prints to raise money for people in Lebanon displaced by the recent Israeli attacks. In recent months, large-scale walkie-talkie explosions and escalating Israeli airstrikes on the region have resulted in thousands of dead and injured and raised alarms about the future of the country’s infrastructure and ancient cultural heritage sites.

Photographers for Lebanonwhich launched on October 25, is selling 100 prints from more than 35 photographers through November 25 to generate proceeds for the local Lebanese non-profit organization Ma Liban d’Azur. Each print, which measures approximately 8 by 12 inches, is limited to 15 copies and costs €150 (~$162), excluding shipping.

Bayeté Ross Smith, “Boys and Boats of Colombia’s Pacific Coast” (2017)

Works for sale include a Landscape portrait from 2016, made in Afghanistan by Hazara photographer Zahra Khodadadi; A hand-colored family photo from the archive from the 2020 series Love is worn around the neck by the French-Lebanese filmmaker Rima Samman; and a 2015 photo of Beirut taken from the city’s landmark Barakat building by Lebanese artist and researcher Sirine Fattouh.

The campaign has so far raised more than €19,000 (~$20,500) of its €70,000 (~$76,600) goal, one of the campaign’s organizers, Emma Zahouani Burlet, said. Hyperallergic.

All proceeds from the initiative are donated directly to Mon Liban d’Azur, who will then redistribute the money groups including the Lebanese Red Cross, the Lebanese Food Bank, the Beirut soup kitchen Cuisine de Mariam, the Catholic aid group Caritas Lebanon and the food security organization Matbakh El Balad, Burlet said.

“We felt it was important to support organizations that lack international visibility,” Burlet added. “Because we know the local context, we understand what civil society is doing on the ground, and we do our part by trying to help in the best way possible”

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Burlet, a Paris-based photographer of Lebanese descent, co-founded the campaign with French-Lebanese curator and Mougins Center for Photography Director Yasmine Chemali, French photographer Marguerite Bornhauser and Lebanese photographers Lara Tabet and Randa Mirza.

Aside from the group’s personal ties to the region, Burlet insists this is the case motivated by their common humanity, which made each of them “deeply affected by the situation in Gaza and Lebanon, as are many people.”

“Our goal is to show solidarity through art and within the photography community,” Burlet said.

Visual artist and photographer Jade Maily, who contributed a 2019 photo taken at the Bayco and Ortigosa dams in the Spanish region of Albacete, where her family lived in exile during the dictatorship of Francisco Franco Hyperallergic that she believes it is absolutely necessary for artists to support initiatives like these, because “what is happening affects us all and we cannot turn a blind eye.”

“Moreover, we must remain modest: offering a photo is nothing compared to what the sale will bring on the ground, to the association and all those who take action,” Maily added, emphasizing that “it is nothing compared to all people displaced.”

Romy Alyzee, “Sans titre, Je suis incapable de faire quoi que ce soit” (2023)
Thalia Bassem, “By the sea, October 2020”
Guillaume Blot, “Ziggy, May 23”



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