Middle East Archive

Back of the Book

Middle East Archive is a creative archive that retrieves lost memories from the old Middle East and Maghreb. With particular attention to candid moments, banal interactions and simplicity, it brings forward the overlooked charm of the Middle East and North Africa's beauty. 

Why You Should Read It

Released as a collaboration between the Instagram phenomenon @Middle East Archive and legendary Lebanese war photographer Fouad Elkoury, the first photo book from the collective features photographs taken by Elkoury between 1980 and 1997 in Oman, Egypt, Lebanon and Palestine. Offering a look at the countries around the 80s and 90s, Elkoury’s sentimental photographs act like written reflections of a way of life at a point in time. The photographs brim with life, and experiencing them is the same as reading a description of them – with all the adjectives for the experiences, the textures and sensations, the emotions. Somehow Elkoury is able to translate masterfully what he was feeling in the moment that the photograph was taken – the question is never why he chose to document the moment as the answer is apparent in the pictures themselves.

About the Author

Fouad Elkoury is a Lebanese-French photographer and artist whose work stands at the intersection of cultural exploration, documentation, and visual storytelling. Born in Paris in 1952, Elkoury has devoted his lens to capturing the profound transformations and societal shifts in the Middle East, particularly Lebanon. His photography, marked by a keen sense of composition and narrative, reflects both the beauty and complexity of the region's history and contemporary realities. Elkoury's extensive body of work encompasses not only poignant visual narratives but also collaborative projects with other artists, reflecting his commitment to interdisciplinary exploration. His ability to convey the intricate nuances of identity, memory, and displacement makes Fouad Elkoury worth knowing as a visual storyteller whose images offer a window into the cultural fabric of the Middle East, bridging the personal and the collective in a visually compelling and socially resonant manner.

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