This article appeared in ‘Reflected Selves: Exploring Portrait Photography.’ This issue explores the intimate exchange between photographers and their subjects, revealing how identity, emotion, and connection shape each portrait. Featuring artists devoted to capturing authenticity and presence, this issue highlights photography as a shared journey—one that goes beyond the surface to preserve the essence of a fleeting moment.
Hage’s relationship with photography began in Paris when he was just eleven years old. As a student, he took part in “green classes,” outings designed to familiarise students with the city’s landmarks. During these excursions, he borrowed his father’s camera, initially using it without any formal knowledge of photography. Upon returning to Beirut, he joined a school photography club and, by his early teens, gained access to a darkroom. During the war in Beirut, he spent weekends immersed in the process of developing images, solidifying his connection with the medium.
Initially, Hage pursued photography while studying medicine, as there were no concept university programmes dedicated to the field in Lebanon at the time. When a photography major was finally introduced at Holy Spirit University of Kaslik in 1984, he decided to leave medicine and formally study photography, completing his diploma in the 1990s.
From the outset, he diverged from mainstream traditional documentary photographers like Henri Cartier-Bresson, William Klein and Robert Frank, who worked within thematic constraints in search of authenticity. Hage was drawn to a more conceptual approach that emphasised deep thinking, exploration, and refinement over time.
Feeling disconnected from the local photography scene during his early university years, Hage sought a sense of belonging through other artistic disciplines. This quest led to a pivotal project in which he visited the studios of prominent Lebanese painters, photographing them to understand both their creative processes and his own evolving identity. Among those he captured were Georgé Chaanine, Paul Guiragossian, Rima Amyuni, Aram Jughian, Jean-Marc Nahas, and Halim Jurdak. These encounters played a significant role in shaping his artistic direction, culminating in his first exhibition, Portraits de Peintres, at the French Cultural Centre in Jounieh in 1989. In an unexpected twist of fate, the exhibition poster featured not only his work but also that of Henri Cartier-Bresson and Jacques Henri Lartigue—an encounter that reaffirmed his belief in the power of artistic convergence.
Throughout his career, Hage has sought a deeper connection in his portraiture, moving beyond simple representation to delve into personal narratives and existential questions. In 1990, at the age of twenty-five, he began a series titled Masques d’Acteurs, where subjects were photographed with hoods covering their hair. These in-camera compositions, created before the advent of digital manipulation, served as an early example of his conceptual experimentation.
His search for meaning, perceiving the portraits as moments of dialogue, continued as he photographed artists such as Marwan Rechmaoui, Mazen Kerbaj, Rafik Majzoub, and Mohammad Rawas: individuals who became integral to both his artistic and personal journey. Decades later, Rawas commissioned Hage to create a new portrait for his retrospective, a testament to the lasting relationships forged through his work.
By the early 2000s, Hage experienced a shift in his approach. Attending Documenta in Kassel in 1997 introduced him to new artistic perspectives, while the emergence of the term Photographie Plasticienne (plastic photography) in 1998 provided a framework for his evolving practice. His approach became a repetitive process—one that emphasised deep exploration and the gradual refinement of a subject over time. Eschewing dramatic effects or journalistic immediacy, his work became thematic and serial, aligned with the Düsseldorf School’s methodology, which emphasises neutrality and allows the emotional impact to emerge from the subject itself rather than through the photographer’s manipulation. This philosophy continues to shape Hage’s work as he seeks new ways to engage with photography as a conceptual framework.
In 2018–19, Hage launched an ongoing project centred around artistic exchange, in which he and fellow artists create portraits of each other in their respective mediums. This collaborative effort has involved Joseph Harb, who sculpted Hage in bronze, as well as Mansour el Habre, Shawki Youssef, Omar Khoury, Dalia Baassiri, Alain Vassoyan, among others. The project goes beyond documenting artistic figures; it fosters friendship and sparks a dialogue between creators.
About Gilbert Hage
Lebanese artist and visual storyteller Gilbert Hage has built a career scrutinising identity, culture, and the complexities of life through photography and video art. His thought-provoking works have earned international acclaim, with exhibitions in galleries and festivals worldwide. Despite his deep engagement with photography, Hage remains uncertain whether he would describe it as a passion. Instead, he views it as a way to conceive and approach the world—a tool for questioning, rather than an obsession. He rarely carries a camera in daily life, preferring to engage with photography only when it serves a conceptual purpose.
Gilbert Hage would like to thank the Irtijal Festival for facilitating his work with the musicians and the Bipod Festival for enabling his collaborations with the dancers. He is also deeply grateful to all the artists with whom he has worked.
