A century of Lebanese documents preserve shifting identities
The exhibition “Identity Papers” uses old government documents and artworks to show how identity is created, informed and changed by official papers.
BEIRUT – “The most important thing is to get rid of the mystique of identity,” Guillaume de Vaulx d'Arcy, researcher and organizer of the “Identity Papers,” an exhibition at Beit Beirut, told al-Monitor. “[We have to] concentrate on the materialistic realities, administrative procedures and papers, because these are the heart of identity [formation].”
Organized by the French Institute of the Middle East, the exhibition presents an array of identity papers, passports and government permits from the last 150 years in Lebanon. The documents are complemented by artworks and installations to illustrate how identities are formed. The exhibition, which opened May 11 and runs through May 31, tackles different types of identity formation, focusing on the role of state administration in the process.
The topic is particularly relevant for Lebanon in light of the series of governments that controlled the territory in the first decades of the 20th century. During that time, each administration issued its own documents to cement its sovereignty.
Intrigued by these types of documents, Wissam Lahham, a political science teacher at Beirut’s Saint Joseph University, scoured the region to find examples of them. A selection from his collection is on display at the exhibition.
