The three photographic essays: Beirut Walls (2002-2004), Buenos Aires Walls (2007-2009) and “Monumentos a la Deriva” (2013-2014), are for me three complementary sides of the diverse societal mix, Lebanon and Argentina, in which I live.
All the walls series were triggered by the series “Beirut Walls” started in 2001: as Lebanon was getting out of the 1975-90 war, political parties, who had previously limited themselves to either very large paintings “iconizing” the top leader of their organisation or small “in memoriam” of the fallen comrades, took a different view; they started posting en masse all over the city their elections candidates all the way fromunicipal elections up to parlementarian and presidential, printing hundreds of thousands of bills.
In the zones that were previously demarcating one community from another, each side would post its candidates on top of the opposing side posts. Later on, the politics took a different strategy, contracting advsertising agencies to post on official 3x5. But the previous portraits remainded in place until, as citizens took upon themselves to paint white over all billboards in their neighborhood, the political parties made a gentlemen’s agreement and removed all traces of savage posting in the late 2000’s.
In the meantime, the mentioned savage billboards remained in place. They were subjected to the effects of sun, rain and wind all over the city. This effect of time took a curious turn in the intersectarian zone, most of the bills having been posted over bills of the other side of the city, strange confluences occured: some colors shifted and blurred which political side the post was on, more to the point, posts were peeling in places and spots, letting some parts of the previous posts to appear.
This lead to striking mixes of features; eyes of one would appear on the face of his opponent, text pertaining to one would mix with the text of another from the opposing side. Features of a woman would mix, a supreme drawback in a phalicratic society, with the face of a male politician. Was I the only one to see feel as if were seeing Works by Mimmo Rotella with a twist? I was glad to be able to capture these images of Beirut Walls as I would not believe someone describing.
Christian Catafago
