All Projects
جميع المشاريع
Lay your head where my heart used to be
Hold the earth above me
Lay down on the green grass
Remember when you loved me
Don’t say goodbye to me
Describe the sky to me
And if the sky falls, mark my words
We’ll catch mockingbirds
In Tom Waits’ song, the deceased lover is asking his graveyard’s visitor to simply describe the sky to him - something taken for granted, something out of his reach now, something that he misses.
Under the Yerevan Bridge in Bourj Hammoud Lebanon, one of the most densely populated areas in the Middle-East, the feeling is the same for a population ‘buried alive.' This project is a deep-dive underneath the alien structure of the Yerevan highway bridge in order to shed light on a population that is already suffering from social injustices. For the sake of so-called modernization and urban development, they are now also deprived from their basic right of accessing light.
By focusing on the Bourj Hammoud case, the project aims at highlighting the dysfunctional urban planning in Lebanon, and some might argue in the Arab world. This documentary work seeks to reveal, through the urban environment, the struggle of the individuals living in these landscapes.
مرادفات مثل: غير ملحوظ، غير مُدرَك، سرّي، غير مرئيّ، مسهوّ عنه، مخفيّ، غير محترم، مُغفل، خارج الحسبان، مُهمل، مُتجاهَل، منسيّ، مُموّه، غير مُعتبر، غير معنيّ، مغمور، متروك، مهجور، مُنزوٍ، غير مُميّز، غير مُختبر، لا يُنظر إليه.
"للخوف أشكالٌ وألوان عدّة. خوفي يحصرني في هذه المساحة الصغيرة تحت الجسر. خوفك أنك مختلف. لا يبدو عليك الخوف كثيراً، إلا أنني أشعر به في ترددك. الخوف كالتنين، الفرق الوحيد، هو أن خوفي أشرس." بيرج متحدثاً إليّ. يعاني بيرج من رهاب الخلاء.
"المكان هنا مثاليّ إذا كنت تود الذهاب أدراج النسيان."
كالمُطّهَر، ليس فيه رغد النعيم ولا تنكيل الجحيم، فقط حياة أسوأ من الحياة.
أن تُلحظ يشبه أن تُحَب، في بعض الأحيان يشبه أحدهما الآخر.
Roger Mokbel is a Lebanese biotechnology engineer who found in photography a means of self-expression. He spent twelve years of his life abroad before coming back to Lebanon in 2014. Feeling inspired by Beirut?s chaotic urban landscapes, photography has become his tool to advocate for social justice. He was selected for the Arab Documentary Photography Program in 2018. He is committed to further catalyzing change through his work.
Email
Instagram
Roger Mokbel is a Lebanese biotechnology engineer who found in photography a means of self-expression. He spent twelve years of his life abroad before coming back to Lebanon in 2014. Feeling inspired by Beirut?s chaotic urban landscapes, photography has become his tool to advocate for social justice. He was selected for the Arab Documentary Photography Program in 2018. He is committed to further catalyzing change through his work.
Email
Instagram
