No, Illness is Neither Here Nor There, 1976–1999
Digital prints
ΕΜΣΤ Collection
Acquired through funding by Greek collectors, 2005
Concerned primarily with investigating the history of the Lebanese Civil War, Lebanese-born artist Walid Raad employs subjective narratives and personal accounts to challenge the official historical narrative, often combining fact with fiction, at other times exercising pure invention. The photographic documents that served as the basis for the creation of the digital prints entitled No, Illness is Neither Here Nor There originate from the archive of a fictional character, the Lebanese Dr Fadl Fakhouri, who is presented as the country’s foremost historian of the civil war. As an amateur photographer, Dr Fakhouri photographed numerous doctors’ professional signs in Beirut, in both Arabic and French, between 1976 and 1978. Through the photographer’s arbitrary attempt to document and classify the professions that flourished during wartime—for example, that of the photographer—the work reveals aspects of daily life in Beirut, reminding us that the presence of “trauma” and the possibility of its healing can take various forms that are not always visible within official historical narratives.
The Atlas Group (1989–2004) is an artistic project created by Raad in the form of a fictional research institute based in Beirut and New York, dedicated to collecting, classifying, and presenting audiovisual materials and texts that shed light on the modern history of Lebanon, particularly the period of the civil wars (1975–1990). In 1993, Dr Fakhouri donated to The Atlas Group 226 notebooks, two short films, and 24 black-and-white photographs for study and exhibition. In notebook 57, entitled Livre d’Or (Golden Book), Dr Fakhouri had pasted photographs of professional signs belonging to various specialists who played a significant role during the war years, such as doctors, dentists, surgeons, and psychiatrists. Through fiction and his artistic practice, Raad redefines our relationship with archival documents and historical truth.
Walid Raad was born in Chbaniyeh, Lebanon, in 1967. He lives and works in New York and Beirut.
