São Paulo – A photo exhibit set to start this Wednesday (7) in Jounieh, Lebanon, portrays the faces and a little of the daily lives of 40 Brazilian women living in the Arab country. The images, taken across Lebanon, North to South, are of women of many ages, who work as executives and dentists, housewives, who cook to order, promote social actions, who are Druze, Muslim, Maronite, Spiritist and Catholics.
The photos are by Lebanese photographer Hassan Ammar and the project was designed by Brazilian Viviane Carvalho, who has been living in the Arab nation for two years already. According to Carvalho, the idea is to demystify the image that women living in Lebanon are sufferers. “I’m not saying this does not exist, but there’s another side to it,” says the Brazilian. The goal is to show, Brazilian women that are complete, upstanding, and happy, in search of independence, and living in Lebanese land.
The exhibit’s creator says that people talk a lot about the Lebanese diaspora in Brazil and that the purpose is to reverse the viewpoint, addressing the Brazilian community in Lebanon. Another goal is to portray, through the photos, the beautiful landscapes of Lebanon. Some of the women were photographed for the exhibition in Lebanese landscapes and others in their day-to-day environments, such as work. They are from many regions, from the Bekaa Valley to the capital, Beirut.
Carvalho says that the exhibit “Brazilian Women in Lebanon” portrays a small percentage of the Brazilian community in Lebanon, which has over 15,000 people. Among those photographed are Jehan Osman, of Lebanese descent and born in Foz do Iguaçu, state of Paraná. A major in Hospitality and Tourism and a mother of triplets, she opened in her home in Lebanon a brigaderia, a shop that sells traditional Brazilian truffle-like sweets, called Sweet B.
Creator and photographer
Born in Brasília and with a major in Civil Engineering, Viviane Carvalho is the founder of online magazine Connection Beirut, which she runs with another Brazilian, Gabrielle Soares Nakhoul. The photographer, Ammar, is married to a Brazilian women and works for news agency AP.
The exhibit can be visited until Friday December 9 at the Archeological Museum of the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK). The project has the support of USEK’s Latin American Studies and Cultures Center (CECAL) via its director, Roberto Khatlab, and of the Dean of Cultural Issues of the same university, Hoda Matar Nehme.
Carvalho is planning to also include the photos in other exhibitions in Brazil and Lebanon. She’s already talking with the Brazil-Lebanon Cultural Institute, which is based in Rio de Janeiro, to set it up in the city. A date hasn’t yet been defined.
Quick info
“Brazilian Women in Lebanon” photo exhibition
From December 7 to 9, 2016
Opening on December 7 at 7 pm
USEK’s Archeological Museum
Kaslik disctrict, Jounieh, Lebanon
Free admission
Information: +961 960-0114 or events@usek.edu.lb
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
