Almost Dawn in Libya: Exclusive Interactive Panorama 30/06/2012 18:12:00
b>April 24, 2011. Rebels preparing to invade a house occupied by government soldiers in downtown Misurata.
Almost Dawn in Libya, a collaborative project for which eight photographers raised money for four simultaneous Libyan exhibitions of photographs from the country’s conflict - as described on LightBox, a new blog by TIME’s photo department - reached its fundraising goal of $40,000 and will be completed in the next few weeks. Photographer André Liohn, one of the guiding forces behind the initiative, spoke to LightBox from Misurata, Libya, where he was preparing for the installation in that city.
“That we finally have the pictures in our hands,” says Liohn, “is very exciting.”
Liohn estimates that they are about 80 percent done with printing the photographs for the shows, but the progress is dodged by remnants of the conflict that the exhibitions are intended to address.
On the day before Liohn spoke to LightBox, militiamen seized control of the Tripoli airport. Elections are also on the horizon. It’s still unclear whether the other photographers who are part of the Almost Dawn project, namely, Lynsey Addario, Eric Bouvet, Bryan Denton, Christopher Morris, Jehad Nga, Finbarr O’Reilly and Paolo Pellegrin, will have difficulty getting to Libya for the openings.
But, after everything endured by the photojournalists who captured the Libyan conflict on film, these obstacles are not overly daunting. Liohn says he’s ready to get the shows up and running, particularly because the people he meets in Libya are ready too. Despite - or perhaps because of - the trauma of war, they seem, to him, eager to help with the vision of healing through photography.
“We feel that the project is pretty much as much theirs as it’s ours,” says Liohn, citing the people who have donated both living space and expensive printing services. “To me, it’s very courageous that they are taking so much responsibility for making this happen.”
The Almost Dawn in Libya team has also provided LightBox and reproduced by tripolipost.com with the panoramic view shown here, as designed by Paolo Pellegrin and curator Annalisa d’Angelo, which replicates the gallery set-up that will be seen in Libya.
The lack of captions was part of the original vision for the project, meant to allow viewers to see past any divisions between Libyan regions and peoples.
Although work remains to be done - unsurprisingly, considering the task of mounting four identical exhibitions across a still-scarred nation - the shows are expected to open in early July in four Libyan cities, Tripoli, Misurata, Benghazi and Zintan, with the goal of providing fodder for debate and discussion about the country’s future among those who come to see the photographs.
“They fear that Libya will not become a good country,” says Liohn. “Still they are not letting the fear keep them from making Libya into what they want.”
July 1: Misurata – Goz-elteek-Hotel July 4: Benghazi – Benghazi Museum July 10: Tripoli – Dar Al Funnun – Tripoli Art House July 12: Zintan – Zintan Media Centre
Carter Centre Congratulates Libyans for Holding Historic Elections The July 7 elections provided Libyans an historic opportunity to vote in meaningful national polls for the first time in almost six decades. The Carter Centre was honoured to be invited to observe the elections, and congratulates the Libyan people, the High National Elections Commission (HNEC), and the National Transitional Council (NTC) for their dedication and efforts to support Libya’s democratic transition.
“Gaddafi’s Newsgirl” Launches Three Books Karen Dabrowska, who worked in JANA, the news agency of the former Libyan government for 20 years has just launched three books in London, namely: The Libyan Revolution: diary of Gaddafi’s newsgirl in London, Into the Abyss: Human Rights Violations in Bahrain and Suppression of the Popular Movement for Change, and Melancholy Memories, Foreign Dream.
The Gaddafi Archives: Libya before the Arab Spring London 2012 The Gaddafi Archives: Libya Before the Arab Spring is part of the London Festival of Photography. Many of the pictures and documents are exhibits that have never been seen before. They were found in Libyan state intelligence buildings and destroyed Gaddafi family residences by Human Rights Watch's Emergencies Director Peter Bouckaert who photographed and documented them on site.
