The Arab Image Foundation has been collecting, examining, and showcasing amateur and semi-professional photography from the MENA/SWANA region and its diaspora since 1997. The hundreds of thousands of photographs in their growing archive provide an intimate glimpse at life decades, and sometimes even more than a century ago. Many of these images can be viewed at their location in Gemmayzeh, Beirut, Lebanon. The Arab Image Foundation also began the process of publishing their collections online in 2019, and thousands of their images are now available remotely.

Much to our delight, the Arab Image Foundation recently launched Lamha, a podcast! Once a month, they record a short audio clip that gives people a “glimpse” (لمحة) of one of their collections. The bite-size nature of these episodes makes them a great resource for intermediate Arabic learners who may get lost in a long episode or need to relisten a couple times. For all our art enthusiasts out there, Lamha is a fun opportunity to learn some art history while practicing your Arabic comprehension skills. Episodes are primarily in the Lebanese dialect and are usually two or three minutes long. Some of the collections discussed on Lamha are published on the Arab Image Foundation’s website so you can flip through them while you listen.

We’re going to focus here on episode seven of Lamha, about the Issa Touma Collection. Unfortunately, this one is not available on the Arab Image Foundation website as of February, 2022, but a couple of the portraits can be found online. We chose this episode because the host speaks especially clearly and the dialogue is visual and rich with creative adjectives. Below, you will find a transcription of episode seven, key vocabulary, and an English translation.

الحلقة السابعة : مجموعة عسى طومة

Transcription and translation by Fi Kalam with support from Saeed Alaktaa

رحبا اتمنى تكونو بخير من وين ما كنتو عم تسمعونا. بالحلقة السابعة من لمحة منستعرض مجموعة عسى طومة يلي بضم واحد وسبعين صورة مطبوع سبع لواح زجاج وخمس وخمسين نغتف. وهية عبارة عن "بورترايت" من ستوديو بحلب من خمسينات وستينات القرن الماضي, ولكن مش معروف مين يلي صوّرون ولا حتى اسمها الستوديو. تبرز بهي المجموعة بورايّات لطلاب مدرسة وطالبات معاهد ومجموعات كشافة, فرق رياضية ولاعبين كمال اجسام ورجال دين مسيحيين من قد الطواف وعيل بدويّة ومدنية وريفية و صوّر الاطفال وعرسين وجنود. اللافت بهي المجموعة هو التعابير الهادي على وجوه معظم الاشخاص. فلا هنن مبتسمين ولا معبسين و هالصفة واضحة كتير بصوّر العرسين والأطفال تحديدا. وبتكشف عن اسلوب بتصوير يبدو أنو كان دارج خلال هاي الفترة الزمانية. بيعطي الاولوية لجماليات الشكل من شعر ولبس ومكياج وحتى اكسسوارات و طياب كانت موجدة بستوديو حتى بيستخدموها زباين بصورون, متل المسدسات والخناجر وبدلات العسكرية للاطفال والكوفيات وغيرا. بينما التعابير على الوجه بيكون مهدودة وأوقات باردة. أمّا صاحب المجموعة عسى طومة فهو مصوّر من حلب مؤسس غاليري لوبون. وهو من الاشخاص يلي ساعدوا فؤاد الخوري واكرم زعتري برحلات البحثية يلي عملوا بحلب خلال المرحلة التأسيسية للمؤسسة العربية الصورة. وبخريف سنة 1998 انضمّت هالبورتريات يلي كانت عند عسى طومة لتصير بعهدة المؤسسة. منرجع منلتقى فيكم بلمحة جديدة على مجموعة جديدة من مجموعات المؤسسة العربية الصورة. سلامات

Vocabulary / مفردات

لمحة ج لمحات
Glimpse/s

اتمنى تكونو بخير
I hope that you all are well

الحلقة ج الحلقات
The episode/s

مجموعة ج مجموعات
Collection/s or group/s

حلب
ِAleppo

القرن ج القرون
The century/ies

مش معروف
Unknown

تبرز (برز)
She/it/you (masc.) stand out

معهد ج معاهد
Institute/s or academy/ies

كشاف/ة ج كشافين
Scout/s

لاعبين كمال اجسام
Bodybuilders
Literal translation: perfect bodies players

التعبير ج التعابير
The expression/s

هنن مبتسمين
They’re smiling

هنن معبسين
They’re frowning

تكشف
To reveal or display

مكياج
Makeup

بدلات العسكرية
Military uniforms

رحلات البحثية
Research trips

المؤسسة العربية الصورة
The Arab Image Foundation

Episode 7: Issa Touma Collection

"Hello, I hope you’re all doing well wherever you’re listening to us from. In the seventh episode of Lamha, we’ll show you Issa Touma’s collection, which has seventy-one pictures printed on seven glass boards and fifty-five negatives. This is a collection of portraits from a studio in Aleppo from the fifties and sixties of the last century, but we don’t know who took the photos or even the name of the studio. What stands out is that this is a collection of portraits of grammar school students, female college students, scouting troops, sports teams, body builders, Christian men of faith of the past, Bedouin families, cityfolk, people from rural areas, and photos of kids, married couples, and soldiers. The remarkable thing in this collection is the calm expression on the faces of most of the people. They’re not smiling or frowning, which is clear in a lot of the pictures of the married couples and children specifically. The style of photography reveals what seems common during this time period, focusing on the appearance of the group from hair, clothes, make-up, even accessories and clothes that were available for people to use in their photos in the studio like the guns, daggers, the children’s military suits, the kufias and other things/etc. The facial expressions are limited and at times cold. The curator of the collection, Issa Touma, is a photographer from Aleppo and is the founder of Gallery Le Pont and he’s one of the people that helped Fouad AlKhoury and Akram Zaatari on the research trips that they did in Aleppo during the founding stages of the Arab Image Foundation. In the fall of 1998, these portraits that Issa Touma had were added to the collection. I’ll be back with you all again [soon] for a new glimpse at a new collection in the Arab Image Foundation’s archive. Bye!"