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Exhibition by UMAM D&R & Goethe-Institut
Smile Please!
Studio Photography in the Style of Mathesie & Al-Marj
لطفًا، ابتسم!

صور ستوديو بتوقيع ماتيزي (برلين) والمرج (لبنان)
June 18 - Jul 9, 2008 @ The Hangar | Beirut


Everyone in Kreuzberg knew Mathesie. Since Charlotte Mathesie opened her studio in the Adalbertstraße, Berlin-Kreuzberg in 1945 it was known as the studio "round the corner" where you had passport photographs taken for your temporary identity card and where you went to record special events: the first day at school, first Communion, weddings, your latest hairstyle, the pretty dress, etc. Over the decades the Mathesie photo studio saw many customers come and go. The legacy of an estimated 300,000 negatives from 1945 to 1983, which were bequeathed to the Kreuzberg Museum following the closure of the studio in 1993, is a testimony to this.

The changing fashions and poses, the décor, and the technical quality of the pictures disclose a shift in social structures. Photography acts as a chronometer allowing the observer to participate in all the facets of the evolving society, and indeed the aim of this exhibition was to make such participation possible.

We incorporated photos from the archive of the Lebanese studio Al-Marj into the framework of the exhibition "Smile please!" The photographer of this studio, Mr. Albert Abou Khalil, made the dream of his father Emile come true by featuring in an exhibition these works and also his father's and grandfather Andraos' work. The photos of Studio Al-Marj are the heritage of the Abou Khalil family; they show faces that are part of Marj el Ouyoun's and other towns’ memories. This exhibition included photos chosen from among thousands of works that are part of the family's archive dating back to the beginning of the 1930s. Albert Abou Khalil was present during the opening to make portraits of the visitors.

The exhibition was made possible thanks to funding from the Goethe-Institut Lebanon.


Photo Gallery
From the Opening
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