Photo Negatives from the Arab Image Foundation

In recent times, Lebanon has faced an economic crisis and sociopolitical conflict that has threatened the preservation of some of the country's cultural heritage. This includes historical visualization pieces such as photography. To combat this endangerment, the Arab Image Foundation (AIF) project will digitize a collection of photographic films that captures a wide array of photographic practices conducted in 20th century Lebanon. The collection includes cellulose acetate and cellulose nitrate films, which the AIF will re-house to more secure storage conditions and digitize to make accessible to users online.

This materials represent a visual and social history of Lebanon and the Middle East that showcases the diversity and complexity of cultural practices captured via photography. Through the AIF's digitized work, users can access not just the practice of photography in Lebanon, but also a wider range of concepts representations of self-image, intimacy, domesticity, and the development of modernity in Lebanon. This collection contextualizes these ideas through visualizations of tension between private and public space within and outside of Lebanon, including countries such as Syria, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq.