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Tanya Traboulsi is a photographer based in Beirut. Her work explores highly personal themes of belonging, identity and memory, using images as a narrative tool. Her practice often combines her photography with material from her family archive, both of which frequently center around Beirut as a significant recurring theme.
Her work has been exhibited internationally in both solo and group exhibitions. Her most recent work, Beirut, Recurring Dream, has been shown in Belgium, France, Dubai, and Morocco. Her collaborative project Le Rocher is currently on view at Mucem in Marseille. In recent years, she has also exhibited at Kunsthalle Wien, Beirut Art Center, Bildraum 01, and numerous other venues.
Tanya’s photographs have appeared in publications like Monocle, Konfekt Magazine, It’s Nice That, Hypebeast, Architectural Digest, Brownbook, The Wire and many others. Her body of work documenting the Lebanese alternative music scene was assembled in the 2010 publication Untitled Tracks: On Alternative Music in Beirut. Her monograph, entitled Lost Strange Things: On not finding home, was published by Triton in 2014. Her book A Sea Apart, bringing together photographs from her series Beirut, Recurring Dream, was published by Out of Place Books in November 2024.
Tanya’s first short film Son of the sun (2021) recounts the explosion in the port of Beirut in August 2020 and has been screened at renowned film festivals such as DIAGONALE ‘23, LE FIFA and IDFA. In 2013, she was awarded The Boghossian Foundation Prize for the series Seules.
Hi Tanya! It’s a pleasure to sit down with you! First question that I always ask. How does a regular day look like for you in Beitut?
Tanya: Luckily, my days as a freelancer are quite flexible, and I’m fortunate to have the freedom to structure my time. Still, I have a few daily rituals that ground me. I try to keep my mornings calm and dedicated to myself. After that, my schedule dictates the flow of the day. Some days are busy with assignments or meetings, while others allow space for personal photography walks through Beirut or spending time with friends. I also enjoy alone time at a seaside café, reading and watching the sea. I value the freedom I have; it’s very important to me.
I’m curious, growing up, what kind of kid were you? What did you enjoy doing, and how did you spend your time?
Tanya: From what I recall, I was quite an independent child and, according to my mother, a rather responsible one too. I enjoyed solitude and gravitated toward quiet spaces; I liked being alone. I suspect I had my moody moments, especially when told what to do—haha! Like most children, I loved playing, especially outdoors, but I also had a strong affinity for reading and was deeply engaged in sports throughout my upbringing. I’ve always been drawn to the sea, especially spending time at the beach in the summer. I loved collecting small stones, shells, and those smooth bits of sea glass polished by the waves. I would carefully gather them and bring them home to fill jars that became little archives.
So how did you get introduced to photography? And how did you first start out practicing with your camera?
Tanya: My great-grandmother had a camera and took photos, as did my grandmother and my mother. My childhood is documented in photographs and Super 8 films – sadly, without sound. I grew up surrounded by family archives, spending countless hours exploring the family albums again and again. I created my own stories by looking at the images, piecing them together with the information I had: captions and fragments of stories my family shared with me.
I received my first camera at the age of four—a small point-and-shoot that used 110 film. Unfortunately, I no longer have any of those photos, and I don’t remember what I captured back then. However, that little camera instilled in me the belief that owning a camera was a natural part of life. From that moment on, I always carried one with me. I felt that photos needed to be taken and life needed to be documented, just as my mother had done. Photography was simply a part of our daily family life.
Alright, so what made you want to start documenting the streets and people of Lebanon?
Tanya: I grew up in Beirut, but at some point, my parents decided to leave for several years because the civil war had become too intense. They wanted my sister and me to grow up In safety. As a child, I didn’t realize that the situation we were living in wasn’t normal. I didn’t want to leave. I had friends and a life that, though somewhat sheltered from the war, felt stable to me. I couldn’t understand why we had to go. Years later, I returned, camera in hand, driven by a deep desire to rediscover and document the places of my childhood.
Belonging, identity and memory, are recurring themes in your work. Can you tell me about why they are important for you to document?
Tanya: I believe they are important because leaving Beirut in 1983 left a significant void in me, filled with questions and a longing to understand the notion of home. I think documenting a place allows us to hold on to it more easily. While away from Lebanon, I wished I had more photos of Beirut to look at. Back then, without the internet, access to anything from afar was difficult.
With my work now, I want to create an archive to look back on—not just for myself but also for future generations. It could be a way for them to see what everything looked like: the people, the streets, and the buildings, daily life and struggles, moments of happiness and sadness. I believe our past and our ancestors are an integral part of who we are, shaping us in one way or another.
What do you look for when you’re out looking for your next motif to capture?
Tanya: I definitely look for authenticity and emotion in my images. I want my work to evoke a sense of comfort and home.
How important is authenticity in your work? And can a picture still be good, if it does’t have any?
Tanya: I believe authenticity is important in all aspects of life, not just in photography, but especially in how we relate to ourselves. Being honest with oneself is fundamental. I also think photographs often reflect the personality of the photographer.
Can you tell me about your creative process. From beginning to final result?
Tanya: I work very intuitively and prefer not to limit or restrict myself by creating a fixed concept or plan before I begin to work on a project. I usually have an idea in mind, and as I work on it, a clearer path gradually emerges. I believe good work takes time, and for me, nothing worthwhile comes from rushing. My best ideas often come to me in that in-between state of drifting off to sleep or upon waking, while still in the haze of dreams. That’s when all my projects have come to life. For something to reach maturity and feel complete, it requires time, patience, and calm.
In 2024 your book “A Sea Apart”, was published through Out Of Place Books. Can you tell me about that project?
Tanya: I began imagining a book project about a year ago, for my series Beirut, Recurring Dream. I wanted to work with a small publisher in an intimate setting—nothing big or commercial. A few months later, in March 2024, Chris Neophytou, who founded Out Of Place Books, a publisher based in Birmingham (UK), wrote to me and asked if I would be interested in publishing a book with them. Of course, I said yes. The process of creating the book with him was extremely enjoyable, and it went so smoothly and harmoniously. The book title, “A Sea Apart”, refers to the distance between two places separated by the Mediterranean Sea, which was the case when I spent several years away from Lebanon.
I really enjoyed working with Chris. I was able to be part of the entire process, and it felt more like a collaboration than a publisher-artist relationship. Now that the book is published, I’m even a bit sad that it’s over!
When you get hired for certain projects, do you ever get nervous or feel the pressure to deliver?
Tanya: I do get nervous, of course, because I want to deliver my best. But it’s a calm nervousness, if that makes sense. It’s more like an eagerness to create meaningful images.
Alright Tanya, now to something totally different…. In a parallel universe who would you be? and what would you be doing?
Tanya: I would be a cat living by the sea, eating fish, sleeping all day in the sun and playing with my cat friends 🙂
What qualities do you find most important in the people you choose to spend time with?
Tanya: I value a love for life, ambition, honesty, clear communication and a sense of fairness in the people I choose to spend time with. I’m drawn to those who inspire and challenge me, show kindness, and have the ability to listen. Sharing a sense of humor is important too; being able to laugh together creates a special bond. I treasure conversations that make me lose track of time, and I also appreciate a comfortable, shared silence.
How would you describe a perfect day?
Tanya: There are many different scenarios of a perfect day for me: a day by the sea with friends, a successful and productive day at work, a day at home with my cat watching movies and eating good food, a day walking around taking photos and coming home with rolls of film full of photos, or a day taking a road trip to somewhere I’ve never been before. There are so many perfect-day scenarios; the list is long.
Alright Tanya. I always ask these two questions at the end of an interview. The first is. What’s your favorite movie(s) and why?
Tanya: I have many movies I love, and I definitely can’t say I have just one favorite. However, a movie I’ve seen many times and that continues to touch me deeply is “Whispers” by Lebanese filmmaker Maroun Baghdadi.
The second is. What song(s) are you currently listening to the most right now?
– Najat Al Saghira “Ana Bashar El Bahr”
– Lucio Battisti “Ancora Tu”
– Beach House “Space Song”
– Georges Moustaki “L’amant du soleil et de la musique”
– Chet Baker “Almost Blue”
– Helen St. John “Love Theme From Flashdance”
– L’Impératrice “Sonate pacifique”