Shedding Skin

Most of Lebanon’s coast is privatized. Only a few cracks remain accessible to the public. And even those aren’t available to everyone: they mostly welcome men. I was always fascinated by those men, who could enjoy hanging around each other, practically naked, in the middle of the city. The first time I went to this beach, I felt awfully out of place, intimidated and uncomfortable. As the only woman there, I felt all eyes on me. But I was the one fully dressed, with a camera, photographing those men lounging around in their speedos, why would I be the one feeling uncomfortable? The right to the sea became a luxury few can afford in Lebanon. In a crumbling country, those men resisted. By taking up space, by tanning all day in one of the last public gaps available in Beirut, they reclaim their coast. Shedding Skin explores the relationship between those men, the space they occupy, and I, against the backdrop of a collapsing country.