Mapping Sitting: On Portraiture and Photography

Zeina Maasri (Editor), Akram Zaatari (Editor), Karl Bassil (Editor), Walid Raad (Editor)

    Research output: Book/ReportBook - edited

    Abstract

    Edited by Karl Bassil, Zeina Maasri and Akram Zaatari, in collaboration with Walid Raad, Mapping Sitting is the book counterpart to the eponymous exhibition curated by Raad and Zaatari from the Arab Image Foundation. Featuring photographs taken between the 1920s and the 1970s, in Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq, Palestine and Jordan, it raises questions about portraiture, performance, photography and identity in the Arab world. Both the exhibition and the book examine how the photographic portrait functioned as a commodity, a luxury item, an adornment; as a description of individuals and groups; and as the inscription of social identities. The authors proceed from the thesis that photographic practices are symptomatic of an evolving capitalist organization of labor and its products, and of established conventions of iconic representation. They also propose that these practices are not only reflective but are also productive of new notions of work, leisure, play, citizenship, community and individuality.

    905 photographs: 77 color and 828 duotones. 284 pages, 15.8 x 20 x 2.6 cm.

    Featured in “The Photo Book: A History - Volume 2” by Martin Parr and Gerry Badger, published by Phaidon in 2006, and in “Book Design” by Andrew Haslam, published by Laurence King Publishing in 2006
    Original languageEnglish
    Place of PublicationBeirut
    PublisherArab Image Foundation
    ISBN (Print)9789953004129
    Publication statusPublished - 2002

    Keywords

    • photography and archives
    • visual culture
    • Middle East
    • global history

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Mapping Sitting: On Portraiture and Photography'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this