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The photographs in this section were used, as similar ones still are today, for the purpose of identifying people on passports, i.d. cards, licenses, permits, and so on. The images comprising this installation were reprinted from thousands of negatives from Studio Anouchian, which was located in Tripoli, in northern Lebanon. Antranik Anouchian (1908–1991) was born in Sivaz, Turkey, and fled the Armenian genoicide of 1915 after losing his parents and six brothers, seeking refuge in Aleppo’s orphanage before settling in Tripoli. He studied at Vahan Derounian’s studio, taking it over when Derounian moved away shortly before World War II. Like most Armenian photographers of the time, Anouchian perfected his studio skills; he was particularly adept at retouching. He stored his negatives in stock boxes, inscribing them in Armenian with the year and one of three categories: men, women, or couples. Following a disastrous flood, the boxes were rescued by a collector and donated to the Arab Image Foundation in 1998. Most of Anouchian’s subjects remain unidentified.
On view in the cases in this section are two examples of
portrait indexes from Studio Soussi in Sidon (Saida), Lebanon. Anis el
Soussi (1910–1986) learned photography from a neighbor whose wife owned a
camera, in order to photograph her friends. Although passionate about
painting, Soussi immediately switched to photography, opening his own
studio in El-Kichia Square in 1934 where his younger brother, Chafic el
Soussi (born 1920), assisted him. By the 1950s, Soussi Studio enjoyed a
large institutional clientele and had many private patrons. Chafic used a
6 x 9 cm camera, which was easy to carry and which he employed to
photograph weddings, anniversaries, funerals, official foreign visits, and
so on. In the late ’50s, he opened a branch of Studio Soussi in Sour,
Lebanon, where he worked until 1992. Anis’s studio closed following his
death in 1986. Details of installation
of i.d. photos from Studio Anouchian dating from 1935–70
Installation of i.d. photos from Studio Anouchian dating from 1935–70
(Tripoli, Lebanon). |
