Joe Ghanem is a senior Notre Dame University-Louaize (NDU) Photography student and winner of the Byblos Bank Award for Photography 2017. Ghanem will be putting on display on April 19, 2018, starting 6 p.m., at the Byblos Bank headquarters in Ashrafieh, his first solo photography exhibition titled, “In An Attempt To Guard.”
The exhibition continues until April 22, 2018, from 4 p.m. till 9 p.m. on weekdays and from 10 a.m. till 9 p.m. on weekends.
Ghanem said, “In an attempt to understand Lebanon’s fragile security status as a result of living in the shadow of multiple wars and continuous political uncertainties, I, out of curiosity, researched the frequent recruitment of aged men who work as security personnel to guard private facilities, companies, and malls…
“These men try their best to guard a country in crisis while their health, physical capabilities, and age struggle to keep up with challenge. Through long work hours and night shifts in the bitter cold, I followed these men and tried to document the parallelism represented through their private stations within a few square meters, and our country as a whole.
“And while some of us assume that by the age of sixty, retirement plans should be prioritized, these men still have a long way to go. Standing tall to lead by example, aging security guards stationed around the country, constitute a case study, which documents an aspect of our society and an interpretation of the adjectives accompanying the word Lebanon in the headlines: fragile and at risk.”
We strongly encourage you to support this exhibition by visiting the exhibition in large numbers.