<div class="accordion"><div class="accordion-item"><div class="accordion-header"><span class="accordion-title">The Association</span> <img class="arrow" src="/aif_website/web/sites/default/files/expand_more.svg" alt="Expand" width="24" height="24"></div><div class="accordion-content"><p>The Arab Image Foundation is an independent association forging new pathways for photography and image practices...</p></div></div><div class="accordion-item"><div class="accordion-header"><span class="accordion-title">History</span> <img class="arrow" src="/aif_website/web/sites/default/files/expand_more.svg" alt="Expand" width="24" height="24"></div><div class="accordion-content"><p>Located in Beirut, Lebanon, the Arab Image Foundation (AIF) is an independent association that collects, preserves and researches photographs from South West Asia and North Africa (SWANA) and its diasporas. Established in 1997 by photographers, Fouad Elkoury and Samer Mohdad, and artist Akram Zaatari, the Foundation has been entrusted with approximately 500,000 photographic objects dating back to 1860 by anonymous, amateur and professional photographers. A way to trace one possible history of the Arab Image Foundation may be through considering the practice of collecting, alongside the various mission statements.Located in Beirut, Lebanon, The Arab Image Foundation (AIF) located in Beirut, Lebanon is an independent association that collects, preserves and researches photographs from South West Asia and North Africa (SWANA) and its diasporas. Established in 1997 by photographers, Fouad Elkoury and Samer Mohdad, and artist Akram Zaatari, the Foundation has been entrusted with approximately 500,000 photographic objects dating back to 1860 by anonymous, amateur and professional photographers. A way to trace one possible history of the Arab Image Foundation may be through considering the practice of collecting, alongside the various mission statements.</p><p>As detailed in the AIF’s first mission statement, written in 1997, the collection was conceived from a desire to protect, promote and disseminate ‘Arab photographic heritage.’ In this process, iconographies of different places within the ‘Arab’—what we now refer to as the SWANA— region would be located, and physically collected.</p><p class="p-title">1997 to 2000: collecting early photography through research missions</p><p>Commencing in 1997, the first research missions took place in Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria. Their focus was on collecting professional studio photography and amateur snapshots taken during al-Nahda al- Arabiyya, the Arab Renaissance, (late 19th–early 20th century), and the period just after. In the same year, within the framework of Une Saison Africaine organised by the Institut du Monde Arabe, research was also undertaken in Egypt and Morocco. The aim was to collect photographs produced by local photographers, from 1947 to 1967, which revealed how they documented their social sphere at a pivotal moment in history. However, instead of viewing these photographs exclusively through a historical lens, the researchers aimed to identify photographic trends and highlight what they termed in the 1997 project proposal, as hitherto unknown ‘artistic talents’. The next research trip to Iraq in 2000, provided a window into the photographic landscape of Baghdad and Mosul. The outcome of the initial research trips was the acquisition of 16,400 photographic prints and negatives taken between 1860 and 1960 by amateur and professional photographer,, that were to form 235 different photographic collections.</p><p class="p-title">Critical collecting and research practices</p></div></div><div class="accordion-item"><div class="accordion-header"><span class="accordion-title">Our Economic Reality</span> <img class="arrow" src="/aif_website/web/sites/default/files/expand_more.svg" alt="Expand" width="24" height="24"></div><div class="accordion-content"><p>Lebanon is on the verge of collapse, experiencing its worst economic and political crisis in recent history, with its currency free falling.</p><p>We are an association that cares for photographs. These photographs, at times intimate, other times historical, but always precious, have been entrusted to us. In Lebanon’s precarious climate , we have been left to invent tactics of self-sufficiency to ensure the survival of the photographs, and the wellbeing of our staff who are their custodians whilst also anticipating and preparing for future catastrophes.</p><p>Every crisis brings anxiety and destruction, but within destruction is the opportunity to rethink structures. Even prior to the crisis, we were aware of the limitations of existing funding models and had been in conversation with our funders to improve and stabilise our funding relations. However, the unprecedented magnitude of today’s crisis has accelerated these conversations. Specifically, we continuously need to rethink our use of ever-scarce electricity and water to ensure the sustainability of our work model; we have also had to rethink our public engagement work in order to maintain agility in the face of perpetual postponements due to being located in a country that is constantly on the verge of war and economic collapse. In order to navigate this reality, we now work in alliance with like-minded institutions, sharing resources and navigating programming together, and we try to convince our donors to commit to multi-year, unrestricted funds, to give us more security and stability in this challenging context.</p><p>At a time when many cultural institutions were closing due to the crisis, and with the limited resources we had, we decided to move to a location that would allow for shared spaces with our peers and be open to the public. We moved from Gemmayzeh to Kantari, a neighbourhood with schools, universities and a public garden, a neighbourhood where people still move around on foot. We wanted to ensure that we could provide an open space, believing that in such difficult times our space should be available to the public, to reflect and organise together, and share resources that are becoming scarcer.</p><p>To make this possible, we negotiated our lease with our neighbours Metro al-Madina, supported each other during the renovations, and continue to share the generator and solar electricity, as well as advice on various concerns. We also reached out to other institutions, such as Dawawine, the Co-operative for Cinema Professionals, Public Works, and Archive Books, to face the dire economic reality together. The result of this collaboration is an auditorium and a specialised common library for visual and performing arts, critical theory, history, feminism as well as urbanism and architecture. We feel that sharing, whether it be knowledge or available resources, is one way of developing ties with other cultural projects, collectives, and institutions. We encourage local community support: volunteering, helping care for the space and library and making small contributions, in-kind or monetary.&nbsp;<br>Click here to know how you can help us develop these collaborations.</p></div></div></div>