In honour of International Women’s day, we headed over to the Salwa Zeidan Gallery to check out the latest solo exhibition on offer, Lily Bandak’s Journey to Empowerment. She’s photographed several prominent figures including the King and Queen of Jordan, Yasser Arafat and Mrs Hariri, and has exhibited throughout the world.
Bandak is an Arab-American photographer whose inspirational battle with Multiple Sclerosis left her seriously disabled and wheelchair bound at the height of her career. Despite this however, Bandak has found a way to continue working in photography.
After learning of the Vocational Rehabilitation programme to assist disabled people in returning to work, Bandak designed a camera mount to be attached to her wheelchair and returned to work.
And we’re so glad she did. The collection features a variety of photographs from Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Bahrain and the UAE. Her photographs are at once elegiac and breathtaking. With ladies dressed in gorgeous traditional textiles, her images hearken back to a simpler time. We can’t help but be impressed as we wind our way through the white walls of the gallery space. The perfect backdrop to the exhibition, there’s nothing to compete with the images on display. We are particularly impressed with the grape picking images in the collection, her use of shadows and the feelings she has managed to capture.
In 2009 Bandak established a non-profit foundation, Assistive Technology Makes Independence Accessible (ATMIA), to help people with disabilities in the Middle East become independent in their day-to-day life. Proceeds from the sale of Bandak’s photographs will go towards ATMIA.
The exhibition will run till 31st March at the Salwa Zeidan Gallery. For more information call: 02 666 9656.
Sawaiba Khan
