I’m not sure how I came across these photographs on Tate’s website, but I am totally captivated. I’ve seen lots of family pictures set in the Arab world from early- and mid- 20th century, but none of them had as much character as this set.
Although they’re mostly shot in studios, there’s an absurd sense of realness in them, in the same way that Napoleon Dynamite is more real most other highschool dramas. Their awkwardness, joy, and absurdity is a fantastic snippet into our past.
A simpler past.
Ahmad el Abed, and his friend Rajab Arna’out. Madani’s parents’ home, the studio, Saida, Lebanon, 1948-53.
©Akram Zaatari, courtesy Hashem el Madani and Arab Image Foundation, Beirut
Students and teachers of Aisha Om el Mo’minin School for Girls. Wadiah Lofty (right) and a school teacher colleague. School courtyard, Saida, Lebanon, 1948-49.
©Akram Zaatari, courtesy Hashem el Madani and Arab Image Foundation, Beirut
Abu Jalal Dimassy (centre) and two of his friends acting out a hold-up. Studio Shehrazade, Saida, Lebanon
©Akram Zaatari, courtesy Hashem el Madani and Arab Image Foundation, Beirut
A fisherman with his daughters. Saqqa family house, Saida, Lebanon, 1948-53.
©Akram Zaatari, courtesy Hashem el Madani and Arab Image Foundation, Beirut
Tarho and El Masri. Studio Shehrazade, Saida, Lebanon, 1958. “Films inspired people a lot. They came to perform kissing in front of a camera. In a conservative society such as Saida, people were willing to play the kiss between two people of the same sex, but very rarely between a man and a woman. I remember only one couple who came to the studio and kissed in front of the camera, and they were not married. The rest of them were people of the same sex. One of them plays the woman, while the other plays the man.”
©Akram Zaatari, courtesy Hashem el Madani and Arab Image Foundation, Beirut
Amin Hijazi (left) and his cousin Gharamti. Studio Shehrazade, Saida, Lebanon, 1950s-1960s
©Akram Zaatari, courtesy Hashem el Madani and Arab Image Foundation, Beirut
Akram ZaatariAnonymous. Studio Shehrazade, Saida, Lebanon, early 1960s.
©Akram Zaatari, courtesy Hashem el Madani and Arab Image Foundation, Beirut
Anonymous. Studio Shehrazade, Saida, Lebanon, 1970s.
©Akram Zaatari, courtesy Hashem el Madani and Arab Image Foundation, Beirut
Anonymous. Studio Shehrazade, Saida, Lebanon, 1970s.
©Akram Zaatari, courtesy Hashem el Madani and Arab Image Foundation, Beirut
Syrian resistants. Studio Shehrazade, Saida, Lebanon, early 1970s.
©Akram Zaatari, courtesy Hashem el Madani and Arab Image Foundation, Beirut
Ahmad el Abed’s sister. Madani’s parents’ home, the studio, Saida, Lebanon, 1948-53.
©Akram Zaatari, courtesy Hashem el Madani and Arab Image Foundation, Beirut
Najm (left) and Asmar (right). Studio Shehrazade, Saida, Lebanon, 1950s.
©Akram Zaatari, courtesy Hashem el Madani and Arab Image Foundation, Beirut
Palestinian with his guitar. Studio Shehrazade, Saida, Lebanon, early 1970s.
©Akram Zaatari, courtesy Hashem el Madani and Arab Image Foundation, Beirut
Palestinian resistant. Studio Shehrazade, Saida, Lebanon, 1968-72.
©Akram Zaatari, courtesy Hashem el Madani and Arab Image Foundation, Beirut
Twins. Studio Shehrazade, Saida, Lebanon, 1950s.
©Akram Zaatari, courtesy Hashem el Madani and Arab Image Foundation, Beirut
Syrian resistant. Studio Shehrazade, Saida, Lebanon, early 1970s.
©Akram Zaatari, courtesy Hashem el Madani and Arab Image Foundation, Beirut
Syrian resistant. Studio Shehrazade, Saida, Lebanon, early 1970s.
©Akram Zaatari, courtesy Hashem el Madani and Arab Image Foundation, Beirut
Anonymous. Studio Shehrazade, Saida, Lebanon, 1950s.
©Akram Zaatari, courtesy Hashem el Madani and Arab Image Foundation, Beirut
Anonymous. Studio Shehrazade, Saida, Lebanon, 1960.
©Akram Zaatari, courtesy Hashem el Madani and Arab Image Foundation, Beirut
Two young men from Aadloun. Studio Shehrazade, Saida, Lebanon, 1966.
©Akram Zaatari, courtesy Hashem el Madani and Arab Image Foundation, Beirut
Abu Zahr and his wife. Studio Shehrazade, Saida, Lebanon, 1973-74.
©Akram Zaatari, courtesy Hashem el Madani and Arab Image Foundation, Beirut
Bashasha (left) and a friend. Studio Shehrazade, Saida, Lebanon, late 1950s.
©Akram Zaatari, courtesy Hashem el Madani and Arab Image Foundation, Beirut