akram zaatari
1966, Saida, Lebanon
Akram Zaatari has developed an interdisciplinary practice that combines the roles of image-maker, archivist, curator and critical theorist. He is concerned with notions of desire, resistance, memory, surveillance and most significantly, the production and circulation of images during wartime. Through photography, film, video, installation and performance, the artist has built a complex body of work that explores self-documentation and the current state of image-making. Zaatari is especially interested in the Lebanese postwar condition, particularly the televised mediation of territorial conflicts and wars, and the logic of religious as well as national resistance. Through the appropriation and exhibition of documents and image archives, he invites us to rethink what it means to witness, survive or document a war. Some of his works are based on his own collection and study of middle-eastern photographic history: archival images that comprise a valuable record of social relations, representations of male sexuality and photographic practices of the region. In addition to his own archival work, Akram Zaatari is a founding member of the Arab Image Foundation, which aims to collect, study and disseminate the photographic heritage of Middle East, North Africa and the Arab diaspora.
Zaatari graduated as a Bachelor of Architecture from the American University of Beirut (1989), and a Master of Arts in Media Studies from the New School, New York (1995). In 1997, he was organizer of the former Ayloul Festival (an initiative that produced and sponsored theatre, dance, installation and video works by emerging Lebanese and international artists). In 2011, he was the 4th laureate of the Yanghyun Prize, and in 2004 he received the Grand Prize from the Associação Cultural Videobrasail. Zaatari was also awarded Best Documentary, and Best Director, at the 2nd edition of the Beirut International Film Festival.
Akram Zaatari lives and works in Beirut.
letter to a refusing pilot, 2013
hd video
34 min
letter to a refusing pilot, 2013
installation view of akram zaatari the end of time at kurimanzutto, mexico city, 2013
the end of time, 2013
hd video, color, sound
13 min
the end of time, 2012
16mm black and white film, silent
13 min
installation view of akram zaatari the end of time at kurimanzutto, mexico city, 2013
the end of time, 2012
16mm black and white film, silent
13 min
installation view at documenta 13, kassel, 2012
time capsule, 2012
installation view at documenta 13, kassel, 2012
time capsule, 2012
installation view at documenta 13, kassel, 2012
time capsule, 2012
installation view at documenta 13, kassel, 2012
on photography, people and modern times, 2012
2 channel hd video projection
42 min
on photography, people and modern times, 2012
2 channel hd video projection
42 min
installation view at museum of modern art, new york, 2013
damaged negatives: scratched portrait of mrs. baqari, from the series photographic phenomena, 2012
inkjet print on silver rag paper, printed from 35mm scratched negative from the hashem el madani archive
damaged negatives: scratched portrait of mrs. baqari, from the series photographic phenomena, 2012
inkjet print on silver rag paper, printed from 35mm scratched negative from the hashem el madani archive
70.9 x 47.2 in.
ali's back, 2011
digital print
70.9 x 86.6 in.
bodybuilders, 2011
printed from a damaged negative showing munir el dada in saida, 1948
digital print
70.9 x 57.1 in.
bodybuilders, 2011
printed from a damaged negative showing from left to right: hassan al aakkad, munir el dada, and mahmoud el dimassy in saida, 1948
digital print
70.9 x 57.1 in.
tomorrow everything will be alright, 2010
single channel video, color, sound
11:48 min
untitled, 2007
metheb el maasheh, a rwelah bedouin from the raja tribe (2001)
digital print
35.8 x 55.9 in.
the desert panorama, 2007
16 negative sheets (2.36 x 2.36 in.)
c-print, set of 3
35.83 x 44.09 in.
the desert panorama. 16 negative sheets (2.36 x 2.36 in.), 33 contact prints, a tray of negatives and contact prints, with white cotton gloves on light table
c-print, set of 3
35.83 x 44.09 in.
learning photography, 2007
an explosion due to an israeli air raid on the awali bridge. saida, june 6, 1982
digital print
28.8 x 43.3 in.
neruda's letters, 2007
nabih awada's letters from askalan
digital print
35.8 x 29.1 in.
march fourteen, 2007
digital print
19.3 x 15.7 in. each
letter to samir, 2007
letter from nabih awada to samir al-quintar, wrapped eight times in plastic, sealed and intended as a time capsule
digital print
49.6 x 61.4 in.
letter for a time of peace, 2007
b-10 mortar case in which former member of lebanese resistance ali hashisho buried a letter in 1991
digital print
49.6 x 61.4 in.
untitled, 2007
akram zaatari's photo albums, envelopes, and negatives from the early 80s
digital print
61.4 x 44.09 in.
saida, june 6, 1982, 2006
digital print
36.22 x 74.8 in.
another resolution, 1998
a photograph showing maha shaasha'a in 1968, taken by daad saasha'a
digital print
8 x 10 in.
another resolution, 1998
may kassem,1998
digital print
70.9 x 56.7 in.
another resolution, 1998
a photograph of ghassan salhab, dakar, 1958
digital print
8 x 10 in.
another resolution, 1998
ghassan salhab
digital print
70.9 x 56.7 in.
installation view of akram zaatari in the sharjah biennial 16: to carry, sharjah city, 2025. photo: danko stjepanovic
installation view of akram zaatari in the sharjah biennial 16: to carry, sharjah city, 2025. photo: danko stjepanovic
installation view of akram zaatari in the sharjah biennial 16: to carry, sharjah city, 2025. photo: danko stjepanovic
installation view akram zaatari: the script, new art exchange, nottingham, 2018. courtesy of the artist
installation view akram zaatari: the script, new art exchange, nottingham, 2018. courtesy of the artist
installation view akram zaatari: the script, new art exchange, nottingham, 2018. courtesy of the artist
installation view of akram zaatari in the 55th venice biennale: the encyclopedic palace, italy, 2013. courtesy of the artist
installation view of akram zaatari in the 55th venice biennale: the encyclopedic palace, italy, 2013. courtesy of the artist
installation view of akram zaatari in the 55th venice biennale: the encyclopedic palace, italy, 2013. courtesy of the artist
installation view akram zaatari: projects 100, moma, new york, 2013. photo: john wronn. © the museum of modern art, new york
installation view akram zaatari: projects 100, moma, new york, 2013. photo: john wronn. © the museum of modern art, new york
installation view akram zaatari: projects 100, moma, new york, 2013. photo: john wronn. © the museum of modern art, new york
installation view akram zaatari: the uneasy subject, museo de arte contemporáneo de castilla y leon (musac), leon, spain, 2011. photo courtesy of musac
installation view akram zaatari: the uneasy subject, museo de arte contemporáneo de castilla y leon (musac), leon, spain, 2011. photo courtesy of musac
installation view akram zaatari: the uneasy subject, museo de arte contemporáneo de castilla y leon (musac), leon, spain, 2011. photo courtesy of musac
Solo exhibitions include: Mass Struggle, commissioned by Art Explora for Riva dei Sette Martiri, Venice (2024); The Fold – Space, time and the image, Contemporary Arts Center (CAC), Cincinnati, Ohio (2018); The Script, New Art Exchange, Nottingham, United Kingdom (2018); traveled to Turner Contemporary, Margate, United Kingdom (2018); and Modern Art Oxford, United Kingdom (2019); Letter to a Refusing Pilot, Moderna Museet Malmö, Sweden (2018); Against Photography. An Annotated History of the Arab Image Foundation, Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA), Spain (2017); traveled to K21 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf, Germany (2017); National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA), Seoul (2018); and Sharjah Art Foundation, United Arab Emirates (2019); Double Take: Akram Zaatari and the Arab Image Foundation, National Portrait Gallery, London (2017); Tomorrow Everything Will Be Alright, Galpão VB | Associação Cultural Videobrasil, São Paulo, Brazil (2016); This Day at Ten, Kunsthaus Zürich, Switzerland (2016); The Archaeology of Rumour, as part of Meeting Architecture: Fragments, British School at Rome (2016); Unfolding, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden (2015); The End of Time, The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto (2014); the end of time, kurimanzutto, Mexico City (2013); Projects 100: Akram Zaatari, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York (2013); Aujourd’hui à 10 ans, Magasin – Centre National d’Art Contemporain de Grenoble, France (2012); Tomorrow Everything Will Be Alright, MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts (2012); El molesto asunto, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León (MUSAC), Spain (2011); traveled to Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo (MUAC), Mexico City (2012), among others.
The artist has exhibited in numerous group shows, such as: South by Southeast: Re-Orienting the Collection, National Museum of Contemporary Art (EMST), Athens (2026); Resolutions: Evolving Realities, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha, Qatar (2026); The Whistling Memory, Yapı Kredi Museum, Istanbul (2026); Dimanche sans fin, Centre Pompidou-Metz, France (2025); Maknana: An Archaeology of New Media Art in the Arab World, Diriyah Art Futures, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (2025); The Ecologies of Peace, Centro de Creación Contemporánea de Andalucía (C3A), Córdoba, Spain (2024); Camere con vista. Aby Warburg, Firenze e il laboratorio delle immagini, Gallerie degli Uffizi, Florence, Italy (2023); Becoming Van Leo, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2023); Beyond Ruptures: A Tentative Chronology, Sursock Museum, Beirut, Lebanon (2023); In the Heart of Another Country, Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Germany (2022); traveled to Sharjah Art Foundation, United Arab Emirates (2023); My Your Memory, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA), Seoul (2022); What Is Left Unspoken, Love, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia (2022); Masculinities: Liberation through Photography, Barbican Centre, London (2020); traveled to Gropius Bau, Berlin (2020); Les Rencontres d’Arles, France (2021); and Fotomuseum Antwerpen (FOMU), Belgium (2021); Beirut, Beyrut, Beyrouth, Beyrout, Oslo Kunstforening, Norway (2018); traveled to National Gallery of Iceland, Reykjavik (2019); Home Beirut. Sounding the Neighbours, MAXXI Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Rome (2017); En rebeldía. Narraciones femeninas en el mundo árabe, Institut Valencià d’Art Modern (IVAM), Valencia, Spain (2017); Question the Wall Itself, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota (2016); Here and Elsewhere, New Museum, New York (2014); fALSEfAKES, Centre de la photographie Genève, Switzerland (2013); This is a special blackout edition!, KADIST, Paris (2012); Play Van Abbe Part 3: The Politics of Collecting – The Collecting of Politics, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, the Netherlands (2010); Les Inquiets. Cinq artistes sous la pression de la guerre, Espace 315, Centre Pompidou, Paris (2008), among others.
Akram Zaatari has also participated in various international biennials, notably: Alliance, Infinity, Love – in the Face of the Other, 9. Triennale der Photographie Hamburg, Germany (2026); The Three-Legged Cat, 18. Istanbul Bienali (2025); to carry, Sharjah Biennial 16, United Arab Emirates (2025); Leaving the Echo Chamber, Sharjah Biennial 14, United Arab Emirates (2019); ART Fahrenheit 451: Sailing into the sea of oblivion, Yokohama Triennale 2014, Japan (2014); Letter to a Refusing Pilot, Lebanese Pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale (2013); SeMA Biennale Mediacity Seoul 2012, South Korea (2012); dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel, Germany (2012); 12. İstanbul Bienali (2011); Lebanese Pavilion at the 52nd Venice Biennale (2007); Como viver junto, 27ª Bienal de São Paulo, Brazil (2006); Fever Variations, 6th Gwangju Biennale, South Korea (2006); Zones of Contact, 15th Biennale of Sydney, Australia (2006), among others.
In this interview the artist discusses his work and the beginnings of the Beirut-based photography archive.
Following the devastating explosion that rocked Beirut on August 4, 2020, the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture – AFAC and Culture Resource (Al-Mawred Al-Thaqafy) with the aid of Akram Zaatari and the lebanese artist community, launch an international fundraising campaign to support the culture and the arts community within Beirut. The raised funds will be channeled to help affected arts and culture organizations and spaces based on identification of urgent needs.
This exhibition reflects on the evolution of the Arab Image Foundation (AIF) and its collections through the work and contributions of its co-founder Akram Zaatari.
Zaatari discovered the photographs of Hashem El Madani (1928–2017), who recorded the lives of everyday individuals inside and outside his humble Saida studio in the late 1940s and 1950s.
Akram Zaatari is an internationally renowned Lebanese artist whose work is based on researching and studying the photographic record in the context of modern Arab societies. Through his practice Zaatari seeks to explore people’s attitudes while filming or photographing themselves.
Kochi Biennale Foundation is pleased to share a curatorial note for the fourth edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, along with an expanded list of participating artists.
Through Akram Zaatari, founding member of the Arab Image Foundation (AIF), the publication reflects on the twenty-year history of AIF and the multiple conditions of photography, as a document, object, material value, aesthetics and memory.
This book focuses on Time Capsule, Kassel, the art project conceived by Akram Zaatari for Documenta (13). It was published as an appendix to the artist's exhibition, This Day at Ten (Aujourd’hui à 10 ans), in Magasin, Center National d’Art Contemporain in Grenoble.
Amanhã Vai Ficar Tudo Bem is the cathalogue of Akram Zaatari’s first solo exhibition in Brazil, where the artist explores different forms of representation of individual subjectivity as a place to approach the social dimensions of intimacy and their respective negotiations with the public -using the Internet as a medium and speech.
