Hashem El Madani: Studio Practices (1st edition)
By: An ongoing project by Akram Zaatari
Contributors: Karl Bassil (Editor); Lisa Le Feuvre (Editor); Akram Zaatari (Editor); Hashem El Madani (Photographer); Hashem El Madani (Interview by Akram Zaatari); Stephen Wright (Essay); Paul Wombell (Foreword)
Edition: 1st
Publisher: Arab Image Foundation/Mind the Gap/The Photographers’ Gallery
Published: 2004
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 128
ISBN-13: 9789953003238
Subjects: Individual photographers; Photographs: collections; Middle East - General; Collections, Catalogs, Exhibitions; Photography; Subjects & Themes - Portraits; Photo Techniques; Middle Eastern studies; Individual Photographer; Photoessays & Documentaries; Photography / Individual Photographer; Art & Art Instruction
Description: Hashem El Madani set up his first studio in his parents’ living room in 1948. In 1953, as his business grew, he moved to a modern space on the first floor of the prestigious Shehrazade building, which he still uses today. The first publication of his work concentrates on the idea of the studio, exploring how Madani’s exemplary practice in studio photography is both descriptive and inscriptive of social identities. Madani’s studio created a site where individuals could act out identities using the conventions of portrait photography, with the poses inspired by the desires of the sitters. These photographs reflect not only how people look, but also how they desire to be seen.

First published to coincide with the exhibition:
Hashem El Madani,
At The Photographers’ Gallery,
14 October – 28 November 2004.
Notes: Hashem El Madani’s photographic work is tied to the city of Saida in South Lebanon where he has worked for over 55 years and founded Studio Shehrazade. Motivated by the wish to expand his business, he set out to become the collector of portraits of all of Saida’s families – he claims that he has photographed 90% of the population of the city. Madani photographed people in the studio, on the street, at home, in places of work, promenade and sometimes during out-of-city excursions. His unique archive reflects the very fabric of an Arab town that has experienced major political and societal shifts.
The Madani Project takes the archive of Studio Shehrazade as study material to understand the complex relationship which ties a studio photographer to his working space, his equipment and tools, economy and aesthetics, and further explore his ties to his clients, society and the city in general. 
Initiated by Akram Zaatari and the Arab Image Foundation (AIF), the project meets Zaatari’s interest in living situations that testify on modern traditions and complex social relationships as well as AIF’s commitment to preserving, indexing and studying photographic collections in the Arab world.
The Madani Project takes shape as a series of thematic exhibitions, publications and videos centered on Hashem El  Madani and his archive.