Tanya Traboulsi–Home

Home (2013, work in progress) « Who’s homeless now, will for long stay alone.
No home will build his weary hands » (Rainer Maria Rilke) I was born to an Austrian mother and a Lebanese father in 1976 in Klagenfurt, an Austrian town surrounded by forests, mountains and a nearby lake. However, the better part of my early childhood was spent in Lebanon, my father’s native land. Due to the escalating turbulence caused by the civil war taking place at that time in the region, my family decided to move back to Austria in the early 1980s. Only 12 years later did I come back to Beirut for the first time. I was 19 years old. Ever since, I have been splitting my time between the two countries, always torn between both. Through this project I seek to observe facets of what could be representative of home, exploring its affiliation to places, people and feelings. Tanya Traboulsi Age: 36 Nationality: Austrian Place of residence: Beirut, Lebanon Bio Austrian-born with Lebanese origins, Tanya spent her childhood traveling back and forth between the two countries. While in Austria, she completed high school and graduated from university with a diploma in fashion design. Soon after, she started developing a growing interest in photography. She is currently based in Beirut.   Her work has been exhibited internationally in both solo and group shows, and her photographs have appeared in several notable prints and online publications such as AD France, Brownbook, Colors Magazine, Le Journal de la Photographie, Monocle, The Wire and others.
Her body of work documenting the Lebanese alternative music scene was assembled in the 2010 publication ‘Untitled Tracks: On Alternative Music in Beirut’.   She was awarded The Boghossian Foundation Prize for the cathegory photography in June 2013.   Tanya is represented by Art Factum Gallery in Beirut. Artist Statement Through the medium of photography I aim to communicate thoughts and feelings, my past, my present, my future, fears and hopes. The first camera I owned was a small camera that used 110 film. I have been photographing ever since. From the beginning the fact of capturing moments and being able to look at them forever seemed magical to me. Over the years, that magical process turned from hobby into a full time practice. Photography fills me with a sense of accomplishment and integrity, and has proven a most amenable vehicle for translating inner vision to outer reality. My body of work is inspired mostly through exploring emotions and memories and the interaction and connection of both. Though I like to make use of the technical side of the medium, consciously employing both analog and digital photography, my unconscious is the main trigger of my practice. The flexible, yet precise nature of photography allows me to be inspired anew with every new project I begin. I recently discovered some old photographs in my parents’ house: my great-grandparents, my grandparents, my parents, my own childhood. These findings finally inspired me to face a feeling I have had throughout my life. The search for attachment and belonging. I am currently photographing a series that explores and observes facets of what could be representative of home, looking at the notion’s affiliation to places, people, objects and feelings.   Tanya Traboulsi, July 2013