In the largest Syrian refugee camp—two supermarkets opened this week—Agnès Montanari, a French photographer living in Baghdad, asked a group of teenagers to photograph their daily lives, which they did, and with a frequently fine sense of framing and lighting. They had the chance to play, but seriously, at being photographers. This generous and empathetic approach has its limits when it cannot be done long-term as in the adventures of Wendy Ewald. Nonetheless, it belongs in a festival whose theme is “Together.” But was it really necessary, in Linda Al Khoury’s Maison des Photographes, to try to endow the photographs with a “status” by laminating them before putting them on display? A more natural format would have been more moving, and they would have been what they truly are: a way out of the tragic daily life through taking good pictures. The children were unable to leave the camp and visit the city to see their work on display, so Montanari has organized an other exhibition in the camp . Thank you.
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