Lebanese Photo Bank

Reviewed by: JP Essey

Review started: March 25, 2024

Site Link: https://lebanesephotobank.wordpress.com

Archive Link: http://archive.today/TM0nP

Data Sources

• Photographs
• YouTube links

Processes

• Digitized photos retrieved from individuals
• Digitized Photographs in Video Format
• Site coding information not available

Presentation

The Home page of the site is very minimal in its design. There is a title, Lebanese Photo Bank, on the upper left in larger English font with an Arabic title in smaller font. On the upper right site of the page there are 3 titles: Home, About Lebanese Photo Bank, Photographers Profiles. The majority of the page is made up of squares of varying hues of orange. Once the cursor passes one of the squares, a title in Arabic with a date appears. At the bottom of the page are a list of links to articles about Lebanon as well as videos listed in alphabetical order based on region.

The About page states that the site is a collection of photographs for a 50-year period between 1940 and 2008, documenting many tragic periods in Lebanon’s history. The statement also reads that the collection is made up of the work of 63 photographers documenting the ravages of war, eleven of whom gave their lives for the images included. The collection is made up of more than 150,000 photographs. The volatile mix of the various groups in Lebanon along with the hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees and the civil war were fodder for conflict. A single person, Naim Farhat, started the archive to rescue images from oblivion with the hope that they will play a role in bringing Lebanon’s history to account. His intention was that when Lebanon is healed, the world will once again see Lebanon for its beauty and significance and not for its guns.

Languages

• Arabic
• English

Review

The Lebanese Photo Bank is an archive dedicated to preserving Lebanese history through photographs. In its statement, the site says it has over 115,000 photos. Navigating the site attempting to access them was a bit of a challenge. As there was no table of contents or directory, a user could only haphazardly go where one’s mouse stopped. Once the cursor moves over some tiles, a name in Arabic appears and a date in English. Unless one knew Arabic, one could only get an idea of what the link leads to by clicking on it. Once a decision is made, the user is navigated to either a photo series where photos had to be manually advanced, or the link opens a video where photos played in the video appear for about 5 seconds. Once in a while the link would lead to a similar photo series in video format on YouTube. Navigating the site was mostly based on chance. The order or location was not made very clear. This becomes obvious when a user attempts to gain information about a specific photographer. Clicking on the Photographer title on the main page leads to biographies of 3 photographers. Standard biographical information is listed along with which conflict or photojournalistic accomplishments they were responsible for. How they were killed is also listed. However, accessing the other 8 photographers was also achieved by chance. When viewing photo series, sometimes there would appear a link for a photographer at the bottom of the page. Clicking on that would lead to the biographical information about that photographer.

The photos and videos were a mix of daily life photos, family photos (as one would have in a family album), and war photos. Although the statement in the About page stated the photos were a 50-year range, many of the photos were much older than that as was evidenced by the content of the photos and the brittleness of some.

No information is provided about the site maintenance nor its funding nor its administration. Nothing is stated as to how the work was composed or by whom. There is an email contact listed at the bottom of the Home page. Also located there are 2 icons that show Naim Farat Museum on each. Activating each link only opens up the link with a larger icon. No information is provided. On certain pages, an advertisement appears for some bath or hygiene product.

The site seems like an attempt to post images with the intent of keeping the history associated with those images, times, and culture alive in the world’s consciousness. Although a bit discombobulated and lacking much foundational information, the archive does achieve its stated mission as mentioned in its About page.

The site contains almost no information in English and a few pieces of information in Arabic. Although the Home page contains a list of articles, the associated links in the list do not lead to information but to images with titles. There is not much written information to be gleaned from the site. Most information is gained from the photos presented but without text or reference. The only places to read any information are the few pages of biographies of several journalists who contributed their images.