Jordan exhibits Palestinian Lady Photographer
Nisaa FM: - Known as the “Lady Photographer,” Karimeh Abbud was the first known Palestinian - or Arab women - to have set up a photography studio catering to the public. She captured daily life in the 1920s and 1930s. Images depicting the lives and the era Karimeh Abbud are currently on view at Darat al Funun (House of the Arts) in the Jabal al-Webde neighborhood, in Amman.
Darat al Funun dedicated its 2017 program, Falastin al Hadara (Palestinian Civilization), to marking the centenary of the 1917 Balfour Declaration, 70 years since the 1947 United Nations resolution for the partition of Palestine, and 50 years since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and occupation of the West Bank, Golan Heights and Gaza Strip.
“We organized 10 exhibitions on the art and culture of Palestine: early music, architecture, cinema, design and photography,” Luma Hamdan, Darat al Funun's managing director, tells. “We also wanted to shed light on the modernism of pre-Nakba Palestine.”
Exhibit bears witness to life in British mandate Palestine
Karimeh Abbud's photos are testimony to a slice of the 20th century, bearing witness to life in British mandate Palestine and Lebanon. Unlike her contemporary male photographers, Abbud had access to the private lives of women. With such entree, she photographed Palestinian women from different classes inside their homes, some preferring traditional dress and others sporting more modern styles and occasionally professional attire, like a nurse’s uniform. Along with capturing the character of the women photographed, Abbud's lens also recorded interior lifestyles of the time, secondarily documenting furniture and interior design.
“I was impressed by the details she brings to her pictures and her portrayal of various professions, leisure activities and family unity,” Susan Ibrawesh, a visitor to the exhibition, says. “We — as Jordanians of Palestinian origin — can imagine our grandparents’ everyday life only through photos,” she adds, looking at the young athletes and the families Abbud photographed.
Karimeh Abbud – the “Lady Photographer”
Born in Bethlehem in 1893, Abbud came from a family that valued education for girls. She studied Arabic literature at the American University of Beirut. Abbud came into possession of her first camera as a gift on her 17th birthday. She began working as a photographer in the 1920s, in her home, taking pictures of women and children and to commemorate special events, such as weddings and other ceremonies.
In 1932 in Al-Karmel, a local newspaper, she advertised herself as the “only national female photographer.”
She printed her photographs in postcard format, with “Lady Photographer” stamped on the back in Arabic
and English, a branding strategy that would make a modern marketer smile. During her career, she would
open studios in Nazareth, Bethlehem and Jerusalem.
Although Abbud was primarily known for her portraits, she also channeled modern documentary and freelance photographers, traveling around pre-1948 Palestine portraying life along the way, such as women working in
the fields. In many of her social landscapes, it is possible to recognize her approach to photography as craft and art and the professional's quest for the best image through the use of composition and light.
Source: www.al-monitor.com