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Traces of Light

Syrian Lives in The Northern Bekaa

Lorenzo Tugnoli - Diego Ibarra SÁnchez

NABAALorenzo Tugnoli

LIMBODiego Ibarra SÁnchez

October 19-24 | 6:30 pm Beit Beirut

Lorenzo Tugnoli is an Italian photographer based in Beirut who

covered extensively the Middle East and Central Asia. Over the years he

collaborated with several international news-outlets including

The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Time Magazine.He is a regular contributor of

The Washington Post and he is represented by Contrasto.

NABAA, Lorenzo TugnoliFor a century Nabaa has been the landing point for migrants arriving from variouscorners of the Middle East. In this small enclave of Bourj Hammoud, new arrivals and old inhabitants balance a precarious coexistence while struggling to preserve their identity. Their stories of dislocation, and their extraordinary lives, chronicle the cultural complexity and the tumultuous history of the region.

GVC - Gruppo Di Volontariato Civile is an Italian non-governmental organization funded in Bologna (Italy) in 1971 working in Lebanon since 2006, specifically in the Bekaa area since 2012. GVC has been implementing emergency and development projects financed by international donors mainly in the sectors of WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene), Education and Protection of Refugees.

GVC presents a collection of photographs of lives on the border, taken by the photographers Lorenzo Tugnoli and Diego Ibarra Sánchez

The exhibition aims at casting a light on the lives of Syrians forced to flee to Lebanon due to the Syrian conflict and that now live in informal settlements (ITS) in the Northern Bekaa Valley, where GVC provides relief and services to refugee communities. In addition to the photos collected for GVC, the exhibition also showcases the ongoing personal projects of the photographers involved. Lorenzo Tugnoli’s “NABAA” reflects on the daily life of a neighborhood in Beirut, home to century-long stories of migrations. Diego Ibarra Sánchez’s “LIMBO” investigates the light and the darkness of refugees’ lives in Lebanon, struggling for dignity beyond the harsh conditions they are facing. Partners of the exhibition are the Municipality of Beirut, LHF, the Lebanon Humanitarian Fund of the United Nations, and ECHO, the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations Department of the European Commission.

LIMBO, Diego Ibarra SánchezImages of fleeing migrants crossing borders and braving the Mediterranean Sea grabbed the world attention. After more than 7 years, figures and borders have dehumanized this tragedy. LIMBO triggers a critical reflection about the consequences of war, analyzing the reality of refugees, from recognizing their individual desperation to humanizing their struggles, going beyond the mere image - without filters.

Diego Ibarra Sánchez, Co-founder of MeMo, is a Spanish awarded photographer

based in Lebanon. Diego’s gaze goes beyond the frontline, documenting and

showing what is left behind after the bombings, the killings and

the battles in countries such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nigeria,

Ukraine, Iraq or Colombia… After being based in Pakistan for

5 years, he has become a regular contributor of The New York Times.

BCP - Beirut Center of Photography

is a non-profit organization dedicated to photography and visual cultural based in Beirut.

Photo by: Diego Ibarra Sánchez