Ubiquitous yet invisible; popular yet underappreciated; problematic yet misunderstood… The public transport sector in Lebanon occupies many contradictory positions on our roads and our imagination.
Bus Map Project, in collaboration with FRAME, invites all lovers of the city to take part in a Collective Photo Action to tell stories of Lebanon's bus and van networks through the art of photography.
Join our Facebook event.
Registration is now open.
A Collective Photo Action is a model developed by FRAME for organizing the grassroots documentation of particular social themes or topics over a particular span of time. Photo Actions are open to both professional and amateur photographers, using anything from SLRs to smartphones. Think of it as street photography with mission!
The aim of the Bus Map Photo Action is to capture and share beautiful images and interesting stories of bus riders and drivers, in three stages:
Date: July 15 at 6:30 PM
Location: Mansion
An introductory session at Mansion to launch the bus map, discuss the photo action, and learn more about the public transport system in Lebanon. You will be introduced to the Bus Map Project and receive copies of the first edition of our grassroots transit map of Greater Beirut. You will also learn more about FRAME's Collective Photo Action model, and prepare for the DOCUMENT phase through a discussion of Lebanon's public transport sector.
Speakers include:
Petra Samaha, urbanist;
Camille Abboud, co-founder of “Lebanon: One Story at a Time.”
This session is open to all. Participating photographers will be asked to sign up to FRAME's online platform to submit their photos.
Date: July 16 - 18
Location: Anywhere, everywhere, by bus
A weekend (plus Monday) of exploration and photography, based on themes and ideas introduced in the introductory session. Participants are encouraged to use the bus as a means of seeing Lebanon from a new perspective.
Escape the heat! Go somewhere new! Spark conversations, and bring life to your bus map by seeking out the stories behind those colored lines and stops!
Deadline for uploading your photo submissions to FRAME's platform is July 18, at midnight.
Date: July 23
Location: Mansion
A workshop bringing participating photographers together with writers and journalists, to draw out stories from the submitted photos, as well as give feedback on the experience of using the bus map.
The aim is this session is to begin to collectively produce a series of thematic maps, photoessays and other texts, based on fragments and narratives captured by participating photographers.
This session is aimed at participating photographers, but is open to all, and will be facilitated by a team of writers and photojournalists in collaboration with Mashallah News . Think of it as a “jury” where everybody wins.
“The most political decision you make is where you direct people's eyes ” - Wim Wenders