Hashem El Madani: Promenades
By: An ongoing project by Akram Zaatari
Contributors: Karl Bassil (Editor); Akram Zaatari (Editor); Hashem El Madani (Photographer); Hashem El Madani (Interview by Akram Zaatari); Akram Zaatari (Foreword)
Edition: 1st
Publisher: Arab Image Foundation/Mind the Gap
Published: 2007
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 112
ISBN-13: 9789953010113
Description: This second publication of Madani’s work introduces photography in the public space. Hashem El Madani: Promenades is an exploration of photography’s ties to urban spaces, particularly in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, at a time when lightweight cameras enabled itinerant photographers to offer their services to people in places of promenade. This book mainly focuses on two locations: the green fields around the train track in Ain El Helweh, South-East end of Saida, and the fishermen’s port during Bahr El Eid festivities held for El  Adha and El  Fitr holidays.

Published at the occasion of:
Hashem El Madani: Studio Practices and Promenades,
An exhibition by Akram Zaatari, Arab Image Foundation,
Fundació ”la Caixa”,
Barcelona, October 4, 2006 – February 11, 2007.
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.