Serge Najjar’s photographs show viewers an abstract reality made up of shapes, colors, shadows and materials. “I go towards the unknown to find an architecture that appeals to me,” he says. The blue-eyed Lebanese native sees a photograph before he takes it, visualizing it in square format, “since [he] started out posting [his] pictures to Instagram.” Then he waits for the right moment, when a human figure adds a touch of reality to his abstract compositions. “If it doesn’t happen naturally, I start a conversation with a passerby.”
For the photograph “Raining Shadows,” taken in the northern Lebanese city of Batroun, Najjar stops a man, gives him an umbrella and asks him to take flight. Taken aback at first, he then complies. The result is an aerial photo where the body seems to float in a sterile world that is actually a white road against a white wall. “I like the fun part of the picture. There’s been enough talk about war and negative things in our country. Time to look at it with a little smile.” He claims that he’s rediscovered his city and his country thanks to his approach to photography.
Read the full article on the French version of L’Oeil.
EXHIBITION
Réalités Abstraites
Serge Najjar
In Part of Photomed Liban 2015
Until February 11th, 2015
The Station, Jisr el Wati
Beyrouth
Lebanon
