Speaker Akram Zaatari was born in 1966 in Saida, Lebanon. With a practice rooted deeply in the research of Middle Eastern photographic practices, Zaatari is interested in looking at the present through past photographic records. His work reflects on the shifting nature of borders and the production and circulation of images within the context of the current political divisions in the Middle East. Zaatari has participated in the Istanbul Biennale (2011); Torino Triennale (2008); 52nd Venice Biennale (2007); and Biennales of Gwangju, Sydney, and São Paolo (2006); as well as been exhibited in such international venues as Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Tate Modern, London; Munich Kunstverein; Haus der Kunst, Munich; and MUSAC, Leon. He is author of more than 40 videos, including Nature Morte (2008), In This House (2005), This Day (2003), and All Is Well on the Border (1997). Since 1999, Zaatari has been researching the photographic archive of Studio Shehrazade in Saida, Lebanon, studying, indexing, and presenting the work of the photographer Hashem el Madani (1928–) as a register of social relationships and of photographic practices. Zaatari is the co-founder of the Arab Image Foundation in Beirut, and lives and works in Beirut.
New York City, NY; NYC