Carmen Yahchouchi was announced winner of the 2015 Byblos Bank Award for Photography during a ceremony that took place at the BEIRUT ART FAIR in Biel, in the presence of renowned photographers, experts, collectors and photography enthusiasts.
“In this touching and intimate chiaroscuro series, Carmen Yahchouchi offers a testimony on the memory and persistence of pain. They are thousands of mothers to have lost a husband or a son during all these years of war that murdered Lebanon and struck it with grief”, said Dimitri Beck, Jury President of the 2015 Byblos Bank Award for Photography and Editor-in-Chief of Paris based Polka magazine specialized in photography. “While physical wounds may heal with time, psychological ones are dormant and may open up at any moment.
By making them pose with the weapons of their men, Carmen symbolizes the relation between a lost loved one and the object that killed them. The images of these weapons with the mothers or on their beds, a place where bad memories re-emerge like ghosts, bring back memories of a tragedy forever engraved in their hearts,” added Beck who flew all the way from France for the occasion.
“In just four editions, the Byblos Bank Award for Photography has truly become one of Lebanon’s most prestigious prizes in Artistic Photography,” said Nada Tawil, Head of Group Communication Department at Byblos Bank. Tawil added: “We’re very proud of the quality of submissions this year. This proves that photography in Lebanon is on the right track to become established as a stand-alone art form.”
“The finalists of the third edition of the Byblos Bank Award for Photography surprised us with the quality of their work and the diversity of their techniques”, said Marine Bougaran, Gallery and Project Manager at BEIRUT ART FAIR. “Members of the jury were seduced by photographs where intimacy and narration alternate with observation,” she added.
This year, 180 emerging Lebanese photographers submitted more than 1000 photos in the hope of winning one of Lebanon’s most prestigious photography awards; but the consistency of the approach of Carmen Yachouchi, the photographic quality of her work (originality of the framing, light treatment, aesthetics…) and its artistic value earned her the Byblos Bank Award for Photography.
“I’m really honored to receive this Award, and to have been chosen as a finalist alongside such talented people who share the same passion,” said Carmen Yahchouchi, who is pursuing a degree in Photography at Notre-Dame University (NDU). “I can’t wait to start working on my first solo exhibition,” she added.
Byblos Bank’s prize to Carmen Yahchouchi consists of an expert mentoring program under renowned Lebanese photographer Roger Moukarzel and BEIRUT ART FAIR, which will allow her to sharpen her skills and showcase her work at her first solo photo exhibition at Byblos Bank Headquarters – an event promoted through both a targeted media campaign and a personal catalog.
In addition to Dimitri Beck, the jury of the 2015 Byblos Bank Award for photography was composed of renowned experts in photographic imagery, including Artistic Director Thierry Van Biesen, co-founder of KA collection Abraham Karabajakian, renowned photographer Roger Moukarzel and gallerist Vanessa Quang.
Organized in partnership with the BEIRUT ART FAIR, the Byblos Bank Award for Photography was initiated in 2012 as part of a fully fledged photography program. The latter was strategically put into practice to support photography as a standalone art form in Lebanon.
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