ME-XILE

FAMILY . UPROOTED . BECOMING

 

The Eyes invites Lebanese-born writer Sabyl Ghoussoub to explore the link between photography and exile. This issue invites us to reflect on how art can help to reconstruct a fragmented identity.

 

This new issue of The Eyes takes a multi-dimensional approach to exile. Exile as a common noun, as a state, as a condition, but also, and above all, as a verb. Exiles are actors in their own destiny, with the capacity to transform their lives and influence their own paths.

 

© Badr El Hammami, To my mother and Thabate       © Camille Lévêque, Tearing Up, “We Are Our Mountains”

 

© Laura Chen, Words from dad, 2021-2022

 

Far from external representations of exiles, this issue focuses on first-person accounts. This is true not only of Sabyl Ghoussoub, the guest artist in this issue, but also of the other artists chosen, who reveal facts of life, emotions and a certain collective truth, while navigating the frontiers of language, culture, time and space. In their hands and through their eyes, exiled and fragmented lives can finally be expressed and rebuilt.

 

In its fifteenth issue, entitled “J’exile”, The Eyes proposes transforming this common noun into a verb. The idea is to highlight the action of those forced to live far from their place of origin. This grammatical freedom highlights the agentivity of the exile, illustrating his ability to transform his life and influence his path, if only for the duration of a work of art or a photographic series. Historically and contemporarily, exiles are regularly and predominantly represented by people unfamiliar with their experience.

 

Taous Dahmani,

PHOTOGRAPHY HISTORIAN AND EDITORIAL DIRECTOR OF THE EYES MAGAZINE

Sabyl Ghoussoub offers a subjective visual panorama of exile and identity through a selection of artists and seminal and contemporary books that have inspired him. The portfolios and books presented intentionally multiply the means of expression: from personal archives to photography, film and even installation. He enriches his approach by inviting personalities of his choice to share their reflections on these notions embodied in photography.

 

© Rayane Mcirdi, Le Croissant de feu

 

© Yassmin Forte, This is a story about my family       © Sheida Soleimani, Ghostwriter

 

Whatever their exile, and however different they may be, the photographers in this magazine share this feeling of estrangement, of leaving a real or fantasized home.

 

SABYL GHOUSSOUB
GUEST CURATOR

© Atong Atem, A yellow dress, A bouquet                   © Cheryl Mukherji, The Last Time 

 

17 artist’s porfolios

AishwaryaI Arumbakkam

Atong Atem

Laura Chen

Safia Delta

Badr El Hammami

Yassmin Forte

Fernando Lemos

Camille Lévêque

Victoria Lykholyot & Maria Petrenko

Lxs Sexiliadxs

Rayan Mcirdi

Cheryl Mukherji 

Michaela Nagyidaiová

Phan Nguyen

Shina Peng

Prune Phi

Sheida Soleimani 

 

4 artist’s books 

Taysir Batniji

Oleñka Carrasco

Ana Mendieta

Rebecca Topakian

 

Texts

Introduction : Taous Dahmani

Portfolio introduction : Horya Makhlouf, exhibition curator 

Conversation: the writer Sabyl Ghoussoub in conversation with The Eyes editorial team

A text by researcher and journalist Ismail Einashe

 

This issue is supported by BMW ART MAKERS, Ruinart, la Fnac, MPB, Picto Foundation et Paris Photo.

 

 

about SABYL GHOUSSOUB

 

Born in Paris in 1988 to a Lebanese family, Sabyl Ghoussoub is a writer, columnist, journalist, photographer and exhibition curator.

 

He has published three novels, the latest of which, Beyrouth-sur-Seine (éditions Stock), won the Goncourt des lycéens 2022. He is responsible for the special editions of the Lebanese daily L’Orient-Le Jour.

He is also the author of Beyrouth entre parenthèses (2022, L’Antilope) and Le nez juif (2018, L’Antilope).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

© Patrice Normand

 

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