Bashasha (left) and a friend.
Studio Shehreadze, Saida, LEbanon, late 1950s
Hashem el Maadi

copyright: Arab Image Foundation

“Films inspired the people a lot. They came to perform kissing in front of a camera. In a conservative society such as Saida (Sidon, Lebanon) people were willing to play the kiss between two people of the same sex, but very rarely between a man and a woman.”

courtesy of queeringyerevan.blogspot.com

A group of Meems has been holding weekly Photography workshops on identity. The participants are learning to work their cameras, as well as exploring the different layers of their personal identities through photography.