THE ARAB IMAGE FOUNDATION AS THE GUEST OF HONOUR AT PARIS PHOTO 2009

Central Exhibition

In keeping with this year’s focus on Arab and Iranian photography, Paris Photo has dedicated the fair’s central exhibition space to the Arab Image Foundation's collection, inviting curator Catherine David to select images from the archive. The exhibition of 55 photographs, by both professional and amateur photographers presents a rare vision of

the modernising Arab world and of the development of photographic practices in the region.

Arab Image Foundation Guest Portfolio 1

A limited edition portfolio of ten photographs selected by Martin Parr

The AIF will launch the first of a series of limited edition portfolios at Paris Photo.

Arab Image Foundation Guest Portfolio is a series of ten-image portfolios, each selected by a guest curator and issued in a limited edition of one hundred. Every guest reflects upon the Foundation’s collection and provides a personal and distinct selection. The portfolios offer collectors, donors and friends of the Foundation the chance to acquire prints from its collection and support its mission and programmes.

Having been a supporter of the Foundation for many years, Martin Parr accepted our invitation to select the first portfolio. Parr says:

… If you were to enquire about the specific history of Arab photography about 20 years ago, you would have hit a blank wall. There was virtually nothing to report.…

But then in 1997 the Arab Image Foundation was founded and started an ongoing campaign to locate and save photographic archives of the Arab world.…

… Despite the fantastic start they have made, there is much more to be done. With the advent of digital cameras, analogue photography archives are disappearing at an alarming rate.… Without the work of the Arab Image Foundation, a whole cultural history from the Arab world could have been entirely lost.

Join us at the Central Exhibition space, Paris Photo

- Presentation of the Arab Image Foundation Guest Portfolio I in the presence of Martin Parr and the members of the Foundation

Friday, 20 November at 5:00 pm

- Book signing of :

Mapping Sitting: On Portraiture and Photography

Edited by Karl Bassil, Zeina Maasri and Akram Zaatari, in collaboration with Walid Raad

Hashem el Madani: Studio Practices

Edited by Karl Bassil, Lisa Le Feuvre and Akram Zaatari,

Hashem el Madani: Promenades

Edited by Karl Bassil and Akram Zaatari

Saturday, 21 November at 6:00 pm

The Arab Image Foundation exhibition at Paris Photo is supported by Dupon Labs and the Lebanese Tourism Office

in Paris.

Details

Dates: Thursday, 19 November 2009 - Sunday, 22 November 2009

Opening by invitation only: Wednesday, 18 November from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm

Venue: Carrousel du Louvre, 99 rue de Rivoli, 75001 Paris, France

Opening hours: 19 November from 11:30 am to 8:00 pm

(Full image caption: Hadi Abdel Saheb el Diwani. Self-portrait (Iraq, 1960) Collection: Arab Image Foundation / Hadi Abdel Saheb el Diwani. © Arab Image Foundation)