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Rhea Karam
"Breathing Walls, Lebanon/Egypt"

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Red Cars, 2009, Archival pigment print, courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
By definition, walls are barriers. They can also act as windows to the conflicts engulfing their surroundings. In times of strife, walls offer a means of communication and self-expression for members of many social and religious communities. They have proven themselves an effective tool in establishing dialogue between suppressed voices and opinions by offering a canvas or soapbox. They are storytellers—absorbing and reflecting their surroundings—and becoming silent witnesses to our lives and battles. "Breathing Walls" is a project I originally started photographing in Lebanon, my country of origin. I felt the necessity to document these ephemeral testimonies of life as a record of an important period in time. With the rising of the Arab Spring, I decided to broaden my project. I thus began documenting other countries in the region where the walls are a crucial tool of communication and a reflection of socio-political status.

Artist Bio
Rhea Karam was born in Beirut and grew up between the U.S. and France. She is based in NY where she graduated from the International Center of Photography in 2007 and was the recipient of a director’s scholarship. Her work focuses on documenting domestic and urban environments with an emphasis on public walls and the role they play in our daily lives. In 2009 she published Breathing Walls, a visual archive of the political transition in Lebanon. She has exhibited internationally in both solo and group shows and was named as one of 10 emerging Middle Eastern artists to watch by CNN.