From July 27, 2011 to August 12, 2011
Espace Kettaneh Kunigk, Gefinor, Hamra, Beirut, Lebanon
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The images found in Beirut Nocturne are immersed in an overflowing darkness, only accompanied by verses from the Lebanese poet Christian Ghazi, whose texts have framed the work of the photographer. Here we find intimate, lonely atmospheres and difficult memories of war; nothing of the famous Beirut nightlife full of riches and sex. In this city at night we discover silences from which light escapes, if only for a brief moment, through people and lives on the margins of society.
The book was created in Autumn 2009 and Spring 2010. It was born out of the collaboration and the friendship between a young reporter and a venerable Lebanese poet, who with this book looked to form a bond between the images and the text. In doing so they have created a new form of “caption poetics” in which the verse mixes deeply into the photography, all in black and white, covering the various themes and pieces in the book. The project Beirut Nocture, with an introduction by Renato Miracco and a presentation by Ferdinando Scianna, has been published as a volume by Charta (Milan_NYC) and distributed internationally in January 2011.
The images that make up the book Beirut Nocturne are giving life to a series of exhibitions in artgalleries and festivals between Tuscany, Paris, New York and Beirut.
The very first exhibition was helded in March 2011 at the Galèrie Lucie Weill & Seligmann of Paris receiving remarkable acclaim.
In Italy Beirut Nocturne has been included in the “Cortona on the Move” photofestival and it will be exhibited again at Galleria OLTREDIMORE in Bologna in late november 2011. The exibition project also include an artistic video projection by Giulio Rimondi in collaboration with Ali Baidoun.
“A Beirut night, without whores, without neon lights, without parties, and not staged, not rehearsed, occupied with singular men and women. The overflowing black becomes a silence”.
Ferdinando Scianna, photographer
The images of the series “Beirut Nocturne” are part of many private and public collections as the one of “La Maison Européenne de la Photographie” in Paris.“To speak about, to tell tales of Beirut is not easy without delving into communal places. What I like about Giulio’s photos is that “static vitality” that the give off”.
Renato Miracco, critic
