Tsawwar… Hashem El Madani
Tsawwar is an ongoing visual series in Daftar which explores the stories behind a photograph, taken in the region or by an Arab photographer, written in their own words. We're treating this edition of Tsawwar a little differently, and featuring the photography of Hashem El Madani. From 1948, El Madani documented and photographed the people of Saida, Lebanon from his photo studio Shehrazade. It's thought that he took over 75,000 images and managed to photograph up to 90% of Saida's inhabitants during his lifetime. His portfolio is as large as it is diverse. Photographs include brides, grooms, wrestlers, babies, resistance fighters and refugees.
From 1999, the Arab Image Foundation, founded by Akram Zaatari, began archiving Madani's work. As Sfeir-Semler Gallery describes it, "his work told stories of time lost, voices unheard, and the unknown histories of Saida."
