Karimeh Abbud

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Karimeh Abbud

Karimeh Abbud ( Arabic كريمة عبّود, DMG Karīma ʿAbbūd ; * November 13, 1893 in Bethlehem ; † April 27, 1940 there ) was a Palestinian photographer. She was one of the first professional photographers in the Arab world .

Life

Karimeh Abbud was born on November 13, 1893 as the second of six children of Said Abbud and Burbara Abbud. Sadr born. Her parents met at the English girls' school in Bethlehem, where Said Abbud had worked as a teacher since 1890. Karimeh was baptized on April 1, 1894 in the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem . At the turn of the century, Said Abbud took over the role of pastor of the parish, which he subsequently led for over 50 years.

Several photographers already belonged to the parish, so that Karimeh Abbud got to know the medium, which was still little widespread in Palestine at the time, before she owned her first camera as a young woman. She started taking photos around 1915. Karimeh Abbud first studied Arabic literature at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon. During this time she went on trips to Baalbek , for example , to photograph the archaeological sites.

Abbud established herself as a professional photographer after World War I and became hugely successful during the 1920s and 1930s. In addition to her main studio in Nazareth with an attached development laboratory, she owned another photo studio in Haifa. In addition, she also took photos in Jerusalem and in her parents' home in Bethlehem. She was one of the first Palestinian women to have a driver's license and her own car, which she used to move freely in Palestine and neighboring countries.

She created studio portraits, especially of women and children of the educated middle class, but also took photos at weddings and other celebrations. In addition, she repeatedly took city photos, landscapes and views of religious and historical sights of the region, which were sold as postcards. She signed her work in English and Arabic with a stamp with the following words: “Karimeh Abbud - Lady Photographer -كريمة عبود: مصورة شمس".

In 1930 she married the 36-year-old businessman Joseph Faris Taye in Bethlehem. Her father performed the wedding ceremony. In 1931 she gave birth to her son Samir. The fact that she applied as a "national" photographer in a newspaper advertisement in 1932 suggests that she identified with the Palestinian independence movement, which grew stronger during the British mandate and which saw Zionism as a threat early on, and which she was among others Father was very committed. From the mid-1930s onwards she produced hand-colored studio photographs. In 1940 she died after a serious illness and was buried in the family grave of the Abbuds in the cemetery of the Evangelical Lutheran congregation in Bethlehem.

Rediscovery and exploration

Starting in 2007, the Palestinian-Israeli collector Ahmad Mrowat from Nazareth first made the special historical and artistic value of her largely unknown work known to a wider audience with an article in the Jerusalem Quarterly of the Beirut Institute for Palestine Studies . While studying history in Haifa and Istanbul, he had started collecting photos of Karimeh Abbud for documentation purposes. In 2006, a Jewish-Israeli collector discovered a large number of photos of Abbud's items that later became the subject of a legal dispute with Mrowat. The Evangelical Lutheran pastor Mitri Raheb subsequently took part from Bethlehem in the research into the life story of Karimeh Abbud, begun by Mrowat, which was completed in 2011 with the publication of the first biography in book form, which in addition to Raheb and Mrowat also deals with the history of photography specialized historian Issam Nassar was involved. With the help of church records and the questioning of relatives, Raheb was able to correct and add important biographical details about Abbud's life to Mrowat's first article from 2007 - including dates and places of birth and death, marriage and motherhood. However, numerous texts relating to the erroneous first article are still in circulation. In the possession of Abbud's relatives, who made themselves available for the research, there are extensive family albums that contain many of their privately created photos. A large part of Abbud's oeuvre, however, is considered lost. A systematic documentation or art historical analysis of the parts of the estate in Israeli and Palestinian possession is still pending.

Appreciations

The 9th International Photography Competition of the United Arab Emirates (Emirates Photo Competition) was dedicated to Karimeh Abbud in 2015 and chose “Family Album” as the main theme. On the occasion of her 123rd birthday, the US Internet company Google dedicated a Google Doodle to her in 2016 . Since 2016, the Dar Al Kalima University College of Arts and Culture in Bethlehem has been organizing an annual photography competition named after her.

Exhibitions

From May 2017 to January 2018, Abbud's photographs were presented in a solo exhibition in the Jordanian capital Amman. An exhibition will follow in June 2018 in the Belgian capital, Brussels, as part of the “Palestine with love” festival.

literature

  • Sarah Graham-Brown: Images of Women. The Portrayal of Women in Photography of the Middle East 1860-1950. Quartet Books, London 1988
  • Mitri Raheb , Issam Nassar, Ahmad Mrowat: كريمة عبود: رائدة التصوير النسوي في فلسطين ( Karimeh Abbud: pioneer of women photography in Palestine. ) Diyar, Bethlehem 2011 (Arabic)

documentary

Web links

Commons : Karimeh Abbud  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ according to the original entry in the church birth register, documentary Restored Pictures (2012)
  2. ↑ a b c d e documentary Restored Pictures 2012
  3. ^ Hanny al-Khoury: Karimeh Abboud: The First Woman Photographer in Palestine and the Middle East. In: This Week in Palestine , December 2017, accessed June 9, 2018
  4. ↑ a b Marwan Asmar: The 'Lady Photographer' of Palestine. In: Gulf News of January 3, 2018, accessed June 8, 2018
  5. ↑ Ahmad Mrowat: Karimeh Abbud. Early Woman Photographer (1896-1955). (PDF) In: Jerusalem Quarterly 31 (2007), pp. 72–78 (English)
  6. ^ A b Meet the Guardian of Palestine's Past. In: OZY of July 25, 2017, accessed June 8, 2018 (English)
  7. ↑ Mary Pelletier: Karimeh Abbud: Lady Photographer of Palestine (PDF), research report for the Palestine Exploration Fund, 2016 (English)
  8. ↑ The 9th International Emirates Photography Competition 2015, EPC website, accessed on June 9, 2018 (English)
  9. ↑ 123rd birthday of Karimeh Abbud, Google Doodle Archive, accessed on June 8, 2018
  10. ^ Karimeh Abbud at Darat al Funun. In: Nafas Art Magazine from September 2017 (English)
  11. ↑ Karimeh Abbud: maak kennis met de first professionele fotografe in de Arabische wereld (with video). In: vrt NWS of 6 June 2018 (Flemish)
  12. ↑ Karimeh Abbud - The First Arab Woman Photographer, Cinema Galeries website , accessed on June 9, 2018 (English)
personal data
SURNAME Abbud, Karimeh
ALTERNATIVE NAMES كريمة عبّود (Arabic)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Palestinian photographer
DATE OF BIRTH November 13, 1893
PLACE OF BIRTH Bethlehem
DATE OF DEATH April 27, 1940
Place of death Bethlehem