Finalist, Zaïm by Andrea Ferro

In Arab cultures, depicting living beings is strictly connected to idolatry. The Quran condemns the worship of idols, since God should be the only subject of veneration. However, in Lebanon as well as in other majority Muslim countries, the use of images for propaganda purposes portrays politicians and local personalities almost as ‘divinities’ to be venerated. Tripoli is the second largest city in Lebanon by population and size, and is considered by the UN to be the poorest city on the Mediterranean coast. It is also probably the Lebanese city where the presence of representations of both local and national personalities has the strongest visual impact. My project reveals the correlation between devotional aspects of iconography and its pervasiveness at a spatial and urban level.

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