Last Traces 

 

100 years after the Armenian genocide, those who took refuge in Lebanon are now being asked to leave. Refugees from Turkey, passing through the Syrian Desert in the 1920’s, settled in Lebanon’s first refugee camp ever in Bourj Hamoud, east of Beirut. After making makeshift lives in the camp for four generations, the government now wants to evacuate them once again.

 

The destruction of the Sanjak camp has been carried out in phases, in long and very different time spans, with the last phase scheduled to end almost by the 100-year anniversary of its establishment. With the destruction of the camp, the last spatial vestiges of a much-denied genocide would be completely wiped out from Beirut’s history.

 

This collection shows not only the refugee camp but also the different generations who grew up there. Lives once torn apart by the genocide are now in danger of being torn apart once again by the greed of those under whom they sought protection.