On June 9, 2015, the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU), along with the Krikor and Clara Zohrab Information Center and the Department of Armenian Studies of the Diocese of the Armenian Church (Eastern), held a lecture with Ariane Ateshian Delacampagne titled “Portraits of Survival: The Armenians of Bourj Hammoud.” Her recent book of the same name is a collection of photographs that highlights the shopkeepers, craftspeople and artists of Bourj Hammoud in northeast Beirut.

The evening began with remarks by Gilda Buchakjian Kupelian of the Department of Armenian Studies of the Diocese of the Armenian Church (Eastern), who welcomed Delacampagne and described her professional life. Delacampagne was born and raised in Beirut. She received her bachelor’s and master’s degree from the American University of Beirut and studied at the International Center for Photography after settling in New York in the 1980s. Delacampagne is interested in the vibrancy of street life and has photographed cities around the world, including Tokyo, Shanghai, Hanoi, Fez and Cairo. In 2004, she undertook a major photography project that explored flamenco as a state of mind. Delacampagne’s interest in her Armenian origins took her back to Lebanon for her latest project, which represents her most intensive to date.

Delacampagne began her lecture with a history of the Armenian community of Bourj Hammoud. In the early 1920s, after the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and the French evacuation of Cilicia, thousands of Armenian refugees arrived in Beirut and settled in refugee camps on the outskirts of the city. In 1925, the French High Commissioner in control of Lebanon at the time sought to encourage the eventual integration of the refugees by granting them Lebanese citizenship and transferring their camp to a marshy area along the Beirut River. The marsh became the small municipality of Bourj Hammoud and became home to 25,000 people, mostly tradespeople and artisans working in shoemaking, ironwork and manufacturing. “What began as a tent camp in the 1920s soon turned into an urban center that rose from the ashes of the Armenian genocide,” said Delacampagne.

During her lecture, Delacampagne showcased ten portraits of today’s artisans from different walks of life, whose trades and crafts have often been passed down through the generations. “The book project began as an effort to photograph survivors of the Armenian Genocide. But I wanted to see the image of successful integration in Lebanon, shunning sadness and focusing on inspiring people, especially craftspeople, to show the resilience of the Armenian spirit and pay tribute to it in the year of the centenary of the Armenian Genocide.”