5 QUESTIONS TO SABYL GHOUSSOUB ON HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH PHOTOGRAPHY

Sabyl Ghoussoub, winner of the Prix Goncourt des Lycéens in 2022 for Beyrouth-sur-Seine, was invited to take part in the new issue of The Eyes magazine, dedicated to the theme of exile and distributed during Paris Photo. He talks to L’Éclaireurs about his relationship with photography.

What was your first contact with photography? How did you get involved in this medium?

I started taking photographs in high school. I was in the “speciale art” section and had submitted a project for the baccalauréat based on so-called amateur and professional photography. I was trying to explain that photographs taken by non-professionals could also be seen as works of art. Since then, photography has always been with me, and I was even a photographer for ten years before stopping altogether.

“Photography serves above all to the person taking the picture, it’s a means of expressing oneself, of showing, of telling.”

Sabyl Ghoussoub

Are you still involved in photography today?

I hardly ever take photos anymore. I sold them when I ran out of money to finish writing my latest novel, Beyrouth-sur-Seine (2022). I no longer practice, but images are all around me. They accompany the writing of my books, I write about photographers as a journalist and I sometimes curate them. In fact, I’m exhibiting my family photographs in the Revenir exhibition currently on show at the Mucem in Marseille.

By Lisa Murator

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