A photographic essay of advertising and public space in Egypt and Lebanon -

Abstract

This project is a photographic essay of building advertisements, billboards, graffiti, political advertisements and public interventions and how they intersect with public space in Egypt and Lebanon. The project began as photos of vintage advertisements–painted directly on the exterior walls of buildings and often dating several decades old–as a means to show the introduction of large-scale advertising as a form of commodification and privatization of public space. As a commentary on advertising and public space, each photo in the essay is accompanied by a description that includes its location and an interpretation on how the photo fits into the project at large.