In 1991, Gabriele Basilico and Fouad Elkoury were part of a group of six international photographers on a mission to Beirut city center at the end of the Lebanon war. Thanks to these pictures Beirut was put on the international photography map. In 2008, Elkoury proposed a new mission. With Beirut experiencing a unique period of change, it was essential to document its urban development by producing a photographic archive of quality and integrity, revealing the mission of Beirut itself as “one of the world’s most complex, legendary, ever-vibrant, ever-troubled cities.” Four photgraphers were selected to compile Beirut Mission, according to complementarities between their approaches and experiences. Fouad Elkoury and Klavdij Sluban were invited in 2009 and again in 2010, Robert Polidori in 2010, and Gabriele Basilico in 2011.

Co-published with Solidere, Beirut