Witnesses…Indeed
Four years have passed on all the destruction, bloodshed, sabotage and displacement... four years have passed on the bloody "Israeli" aggression on Lebanon, yet the images of the 33 day war are imprinted in the memory of the young and old, unforgettable.
33 days of war in 33 photos in the exhibition dubbed "Witnesses"; a photo-exhibition on the July 2006 war including photos of Lebanese photographers whose eyes were set and alert behind camera lenses and caught these photos that were witnesses to the brutality of the Zionist aggression on Lebanon!
The photo-exhibition was inaugurated on Wednesday 4 August 2010 in Resalaat- the Lebanese association for arts, more precisely in the "Martyr Bashir Alawiyeh" Hall, a son of Resalaat and one of the brave hearts who fought and was martyred during the July aggression. The exhibition, which held photos taken by 23 different Lebanese photographers during the war, was set up by Resalaat and the Lebanese Photo Bank.
The photos, 33, were selected from 150 thousand photos on Lebanon according to Nour Ballouk, who told moqawama.org that "the artistic dimension was of the major selection criteria".
"The photos were divided upon topics that included the bombardment, displacement, massacres, destruction, and environmental pollution, with avoidance of graphic images as much as possible especially that graphic images are hardly accepted by our minds and therefore the exhibition becomes meaningless." Nour added.
Nour, an artist and member consultant of the "Farhat Group" of which the Lebanese Photo Bank is part of, says "The photo is an artistic humanitarian work that delivers a valuable message, and as the proverb says, a picture is worth a thousand words".
The Lebanese Photo Bank includes photos that date back to the 1975, reaching the July war in 2006, in general it holds within its folds photos on the "Israeli" wars on Lebanon that have been taking place for the past 50 years."
Youssef Badr Al Din, one of the 23 photographers whose photos were chosen to be included in this exhibition says "I have been a photographer since the year 1967, and have witnessed the different stages and different wars on Lebanon including the 2006 aggression".
"The photo here is a photo of a woman carrying her baby and returning back home." Youssef said.
"It is a photo of a woman challenging the "Israeli" rapists of land, and this photo is a witness to the "Israeli" barbarism and the US-"Israeli" civilization that kills and maims but is confronted with courageous people, who unlike the Zionists fear nothing."
Youssef was injured multiple times during the July war, but not one time he became hesitant about what he does.
His feet stepped on the rubble, among the ashes and smoke every morning at dawn, and among tens of people who surprised him and other photographers as they insisted to stay in the Beirut Southern Suburb, fearless of the smart bombs and the missiles that turned 10-floor buildings into rubble in seconds.
It is photographer Issam Kobeissy who talks about a duty, a duty of delivering an image that was banned by foreign and Zionist media as to conceal the crimes committed in Lebanon during the "Israeli" assault.
"There is a major battle we fight through revealing the true image of "Israeli" brutality. Our photos speak on our behalf, telling the world the truth about the "Israeli" enemy that was behind massacres, destruction, displacement and other savage actions." Issam said with fiery eyes that seem to have been torched with anger at the "Israeli" barbarism, the same eyes teary for the vision of the bodies of little children under the rubble.
Issam continued "We were not intimidated by the "Israeli" warplanes or the bombardment, and we did not expect any prize or reward in return for our work, our only worry was to snap photographs that speak the truth out loud."
