Marie al-Khazen: Pioneer Lebanese Photographer, 1899 to 1983 | Art Historian, Dr. Yasmine Nachabe Taan

A collection of black-and-white photographs from 1920s mandate Lebanon completely flips traditional regional history on its head. Dr. Yasmine Nachabe Taan takes us on a fascinating journey behind her PhD research into the life and legacy of Marie al-Khazen, a pioneer Lebanese photographer. Dr. Taan, a professor and director at LAU, utilizes a gender-focused lens to decode al-Khazen's meticulously staged compositions of active, unconventional women driving cars, smoking cigarettes, and going on armed hunting trips. This engaging discussion explores agency, cultural cross-dressing, and the striking parallels with other early female Arab photographers like Karimeh Abbud, demonstrating how these archival treasures continue to challenge established regional histories.00:00 Introduction02:03 The Discovery in Canada and an Unconventional Re-entry09:11 Aristocracy, Feudal Backdrops, and Staged Patriarchs17:39 Anecdotes of a Village Outcast21:22 Viewfinders from Above and Interrupted Legacies31:12 The Stone Under the Steering Wheel34:15 Trends of Fluidity and Cultural Cross-Dressing37:33 The Working Woman vs. The Documentarian41:58 The True Landscape of Palestine43:01 Self-Orientalizing and the Trend of the Bowl48:43 Scratched Faces and Pre-Photoshop Erasure53:06 White Eggs and the Mysterious Wife of BonfilsDr. Yasmine Nachabe Taan is Associate professor of Design and Design History at the Lebanese American University (LAU) in Beirut.She holds a PhD in Art History and Communications Studies from McGill University. Her research focus is on design writing and research, visual culture and gender representation, design, media, photography and visual culture in the Middle East and North Africa. She publishes articles on visual culture in a number of international journals. She has illustrated more than twenty children’s books and has participated in a number of residencies in Berlin, Cairo, Beirut and Bratislava. Her artwork has been exhibited in New York, Berlin and Beirut.

Connect with Yasmine Nachabe Taan 👉 https://instagram.com/yastaan

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