ADPP First 2019 Workshop in Beirut
As part of the 2019 cycle of the Arab Documentary Photography Programme (ADPP), the first workshop was organized in Beirut 29 August - 2 September 2019. The workshop gave the floor to the new group of nine grantees to share their visual narratives with the ADPP mentors, partners, and fellow participants, and to benefit from the enriching exchanges as well as the eye-opening sessions.
The nine participating young documentary photographers, among whom six are women, come from six Arab countries: Yemen, Bahrain, Kuwait, Egypt, Sudan and Lebanon. Their socially and politically engaged projects reflect a range of highly relevant issues. In "Some Quiet Noise", Thana Faroq (Yemen) focuses on undocumented asylum seekers in the Netherlands, while Somaya Mohamed’s "A Permanent Wound” confronts genital mutilation in Egypt. Salih Basheer (Sudan) depicts Sudanese refugees in Cairo and their inward search for “home” in “The Home Seekers”. Mohammed Alkouh (Kuwait) documents a lost island in Kuwait in view of preserving its heritage with “Failaka”. “Here, There, or Elsewhere” by Dania Hany (Egypt) evokes questions of national and personal identities and histories. Fathi Hawas (Egypt) reflects on youth struggles in marginalized cities of Egypt in “Margined in a Supposed Green”, while Lola Khalfa (Algeria) addresses the challenges faced by the LGBTQ community in Algeria in “Je T’aime Hic”. Mariam Alarab (Bahrain) brings the underlying identity crisis of Bahrain to the forefront in “But Hope is Born from the Suffering Womb”, and Emanuelle Ferneini (Lebanon) exposes violence against domestic helpers in Lebanon in “A Bigger Room”.
In addition to the presentations of the above-mentioned projects followed by vivid discussions with the mentors (Randa Shaath, Peter van Agtmael, Tanya Habjouqa and Eric Gottesman), the first workshop allowed for the discovery of the photographic work of the mentors, as well as new documentary photography practices. Sessions on editing and sequencing, as well as caption and text writing, complemented the workshop’s program. Another highlight included a site visit to the Arab Image Foundation and an informative talk with its director Marc Mouarkech. Towards the end of the workshop, each grantee was assigned to one of the mentors and benefited from a one-on-one exchange with him/her. Mentorship will continue for a period of 6 months, and will culminate with the second ADPP workshop scheduled for April 2020.
The ADPP is an initiative that provides support and mentorship to photographers from across the Arab region. The Prince Claus Fund, in partnership with Magnum Foundation and the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC) established the ADPP in 2014 to stimulate compelling work by Arab photographers working across a range of experimental styles of storytelling. To date, the program has strengthened the capacities of 50 young talented photographers in visual storytelling. Discover the ADPP projects past and present on the ADPP website.
