Orient-Institut Beirut
February, 07 to February 08, 2022
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Opening of the Photo Exhibition “Arab Students in the GDR”
Orient-Institut Beirut
Monday, 07 February 2022, 07.00 PM
Opening of the photo exhibition with Mahmoud Dabdoub on Monday, 07 February 2022, 7 PM, followed by a reception. Please bring your masks.
Followed by the
Film Screening "Sudanese Film Directors in the Eastern Bloc"
Orient-Institut Beirut
Tuesday, 08 February 2022, 07.00 PM
Short Movies by the Sudanese Film Group with an introduction by Dr. Ala al-Hamarneh, followed by a reception. Please bring your masks.
Abstract
In the framework of the research project Relations in the Ideoscape: Middle Eastern Students in the Eastern Bloc (1950’s to 1991), we exhibit photographs taken by the Palestinian photographer Mahmoud Dabdoub who came as a student from Lebanon to the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in 1981. After graduating in 1987, Dabdoub stayed in the GDR as a freelance photographer and focused on observing everyday situations. He captured his Arab and German friends and fellow students, coal carriers, truck drivers, road workers, cyclists, passers-by, neighbors, sales clerks or consumers with his camera. His pictures figure as visual testimonies which give insights into the life worlds of Arab migrant communities and Germans in the GDR equally. The opening of the photo exhibition on February 7 will be concluded by a screening of three short films made by Sudanese film directors trained in the Eastern Bloc on February 8.
Bio
Mahmoud Dabdoub is a freelance Palestinian photographer from Lebanon and has lived in Leipzig since 1981. Among other things, he documents the transformation of his city. His illustrated books "How Far is Palestine?" (2003) and "Neue Heimat Leipzig" (2016) are evidence of his anchoring in both worlds. He volunteered as a group leader for the youth group exchange program of the Office for Youth, Family and Education of the City of Leipzig and organized trips to Lebanon once a year for young adults aged 18 to 26. He also works as a language and cultural mediator at daycare centers and schools and conducts photo workshops in Germany and Palestine.