The Lebanese photographer, one of the most prominent name in Middle Eastern photography, tells the stories of Syrian refugees in Lebanon and their desire to return home.
Fondazione Studio Marangoni – Via San Zanobi 19r
5 April – 31 May (orario: Lun-Sab | 10:00 / 13:00 – 15:00 / 19:00) – ingresso gratuito
Opening: Friday, April 5th – 6:00 pm – Talk with the artist h: 6:30
In March 2011, what started as a series of protests against the Syrian regime, escalated into an armed conflict that has been going on for over 8 years. Few months after that hundreds of thousands of refugees fled Syria and tried to find refuge in neighbouring countries. In Lebanon alone, over a million Syrian refugees crossed the border looking for safety, and settled in tents, collective shelters and apartments all over Lebanon. Since 2011, Dalia Khamissy have traveled across the Lebanon, assigned by different NGOS, newspapers and magazines, to document the different stories of Syrian refugees. They all fled the bombings, killings, kidnapping… Some were severely injured or have lost family members while others have missing loved ones or were under the threat of being kidnapped themselves… In Lebanon they were faced with another difficult reality. As they recounted their stories the majority dreamed of the end of the war, and of their return.
Exhibition project coordinated by Alessandra Capodacqua.
Bio Dalia Khamissy
Born and raised in Lebanon, photographer Dalia Khamissy receives a diploma in photography from the Université Saint-Esprit de Kaslik in 1999. Her work since then revolves around the social and political stories of the Middle East.
In 2005 she works as a photo editor for the Associated Press in Beirut, quitting at the end of 2006 after the Israeli offensive on Lebanon and its aftermath. Since then she has been working intensively on documenting the aftermath of Lebanon’s wars focusing on the lives of people left behind, as well as its social issues.
In 2010, Khamissy started documenting the families of the estimated 17,000 people who went missing during Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil-war and whose fate is still unknown, collecting their stories, following their traces and taking photographs of what they left behind. She continues working on it while covering the aftermath of the war in Syria, more specifically documenting the lives of refugees who fled their countries and found refuge in Lebanon and Jordan for different NGOs and international publications.
Her pictures have been exhibited widely in Europe, South America, US and the MENA region. She is published in local and international publications. She is currently based in Beirut, working on personal projects and different assignments for publications and NGOs.