Akram Zaatari (born 1966) is a Lebanese filmmaker, photographer, archival artist and curator. In 1997, he co-founded the Arab Image Foundation with photographers Fouad Elkoury, and Samer Mohdad. His work is largely based on collecting, studying and archiving the photographic history of the Arab World.
Zaatari was selected to represent Lebanon at the 2013 Venice Biennale by Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath, curators for the Lebanese Pavilion.
He has been exploring issues pertinent to post-war Lebanon. He investigates the way television mediates territorial conflicts and wars, and is particularly interested in logic of religious and national resistance movements, and the circulation and production of images in the context of today's geographic division in the Middle East. His work has been widely exhibited worldwide in biennales and venues such as the Centre Pompidou and is in the permanent collection of museums such as Tate Modern and the Thyssen Bornemisza Contemporary.
Filmography
Majnounak (Crazy of You), 1997
Red Chewing Gum, 2000
Her + Him VAN LEO, 2001
How I love you, 2001
This Day (al yaoum), 2003
In this house, 2005
Tomorrow Everything Will Be Alright, 2010
On Photography People and Modern Times, 2010
Letter to a Refusing Pilot, 2013
Awards
Grand Prize of the 17th International Contemporary Art Festival SESC_Videobrasil in São Paulo (2011)
Publications
The Vehicle. Picturing moments of transition in a modernizing society (Arab Image Foundation and Mind the Gap, 1999)
Mapping Sitting (Arab Image Foundation and Mind the Gap, 2002)
Hashem el Madani: Studio Practices (Arab Image Foundation, Mind the Gap and the Photographers' Gallery, 2004)
Hashem el Madani: Promenades (Arab Image Foundation and Mind the Gap, 2007)
Across Boundaries. Focus on Lebanese Photography, curated by Tarek Nahas, Beirut Art Fair 2018
In 2023, Akram Zaatari participated in BIENALSUR (Bienal Internacional de Arte Contemporáneo del Sur), presenting work in the exhibition Modos de desvanecimiento at the Sursock Museum in Beirut, Lebanon.