À la recherche de Beyrouth is a photographic series commissioned by Galerie Claude Lemand (Paris) and exhibited as part of the group show Lumières du Liban at the Institut du Monde Arabe (IMA) in 2021. The exhibition brought together contemporary Lebanese artists responding to a country in turmoil, following the August 4 Beirut port explosion and amidst economic collapse, political paralysis, and collective grief.

This series reflects on a city suspended between memory and rupture. It captures Beirut in a moment of profound transformation—haunted by its past, deserted in its present, and uncertain in its future. Against a backdrop of failed revolution, economic freefall, and pandemic fatigue, À la recherche de Beyrouth is a quiet meditation on absence: the absence of celebration, the absence of trust, and the absence of those who once animated its streets.

Framed by historical research and emotional proximity, the work documents a void tinted with melancholy—a city abandoned by its ruling elite and left in the hands of its people. It questions what remains when hope thins out, and how traces of past life can still guide us through the unknown.

The void left by the traces of a past life, a present hiding in waiting, and the unknown and unexpected tomorrow.

Read more about the exhibition on L’Orient-Le Jour →