Phoenicia Hotel, Beirut
ROOM WITH A VIEW: PHOENICIA’S HOTEL ART PHOTO COMPETITION, 2016 – 2019
by Rebecca Russo, Phoenicia Hotel, Beirut
The Phoenicia Hotel Beirut, in collaboration with the Videoinsight® Foundation, launched the ‘Phoenicia Hotel Art Photo Prize’ Edition 2019
Jury Panel: Rebecca Russo, President of the Videoinsight® Foundation; Najib Salha, PHAP Founding Judge; Roger Moukarzel, Photographer; Tarek Nahas, Art Collector; Mazen Salha, SGHL Chairman.
One photographer per month is invited to the Phoenicia Hotel to produce one Art Photo during a one-night stay. An annual exhibition, displaying all 12 Art Photos, will be held at the end of the year. A judging panel will announce the winner for the year at the launch of the exhibition. The Phoenicia Hotel is a place where anything can happen. It could be magical, romantic, creative, intriguing, inspiring, mysterious. The lobby is a lively theatre of life. The hotel seeks imagination to grace its doors.
The annual Phoenicia Hotel Art Photo (PHAP) competition has become a celebrated event in the country’s cultural calendar, as a pioneering initiative that encourages and rewards artistic talent. This year’s edition culminated once again in an exhibition of the 12 resulting works of art, which were unveiled at a celebratory cocktail reception on Tuesday March 19th at the Phoenicia Lobby. The cocktail reception provided the occasion for the winner of the year-long competition to be announced by PHAP Judge, Global photojournalist Emily Garthwaite, as Marcia Gunning for her work titled ‘Golden Eye’.
During the year-long PHAP competition each month saw one photographer welcomed for a night at the Phoenicia Hotel and invited to produce one art photo during their stay. The resulting 12 works were assessed by a jury panel including Globally Exhibited Photographer Roger Moukarzel, President of the Videoinsight® Foundation Rebecca Russo; Filmmaker & Art Photographer Charbel Bouez; Artist & Writer Jeroen Kramer; Global Photojournalist and Leica Ambassador Emily Garthwaite; Fine Art Photography Academy (FAPA) Founder & Owner Tanya Atallah.
Continuing a now established tradition, the grand prize of 5,000 USD came with a quirky twist: it was increased by the room number allocated to the winning artist making it a total prize amount of 5,727 USD. This year, Tarek Haddad received a recognition in 2nd place for his work ‘Reflecting Time’ and won a Fujifilm camera, and Roudy Doumit in 3rd place for his work ‘Tétromino P’ received a voucher for 500 USD to spend at the Fine Art Photography Academy.
The exhibition will continue to be open to the public in the hotel lobby for another month; with a limited edition of five prints of each work available for sale. Each unframed photo edition is priced at $500 with 50 percent of the sale price donated to the designated charity of choice of the artist.
As this year’s PHAP exhibition continues its run, applications for the 2019/2020 edition have already begun to be received. For more information, please visit www.p-h-a-p.com or contact 01357008 or info@p-h-a-p.com.
