'Mapping sitting. On Portraiture and Photography'

Background information

"Addressing the enduring value of these portraits and the viewer's common humanity with the subjects is the aim of the project 'Mapping Sitting,' a collection of studio photographs, primarily from the 1950s and 1960s.

Content

The portrait photo compendium 'Mapping Sitting. On Portraiture and Photography' Includes biographical entries on photographers Anouchian ANTARNIK, Hashem MADANI, Restikian SARKIS, Anis el SOUSSI, Chafic el SOUSSI and more. Geographically and culturally specific photographic works are presented that raise questions about portraiture, performance, photography and identity in general. Starting with the proliferation of portrait photographic practices in the Arab world in the early to mid-20th Century - passport studio photographs, institutional group portrait photographs, 'Surprise' photographs and street portrait photographs by itinerant photographers - to examine how the photographic portrait functioned in the Arab world as a commodity, a luxury item,an adornment; as a description of individuals and groups; and as the inscription of social identites - proceeding from the thesis that the photograpjhic practices in question are symptomatic of an evolving capitalist organization of labor and its products, and of established conventions of iconic representation." (slightly adapted, © Foundation Arabe pour l'Image, 2002, from Foreword)

About the photographer and designer, Walid RAAD

Photo books by Walid RAAD

About the writer, Akram Zaatari

Books by Akram Zaatari