Driven
Rima Maroun, Lebanon
Rima Maroun is a Lebanese photographer and performer known for creating spaces for artistic exchange and community engagement. She has exhibited her work internationally and co-founded several organizations, including Collectif Kahraba and Hammana Artist House. Her practice focuses on building bridges between communities while pursuing her own artistic endeavors, earning her recognition such as the Anna Lindh Foundation Award and second place at the Cortona On The Move Award.
From where I stand, looking across the horizon of the Lebanese shores, I can’t stop thinking that the sea offers the possibility to escape for those in my country and in the region. I used a drone to take pictures of different people along the shore, and asked: Would you choose to leave, or would you choose to stay? Would you surrender to the sea, or resist it? Can the sea, as a metaphor to life, embrace the fragility of our existence when we are at our most vulnerable states? To me, the shore is a fracture, separating two worlds. One we think we understand, and another, veiled by the unknown. I wanted to explore the space in between, and how our bodies react, find stability or a let go, caught between these two different realities. On a more global scale, what do you do when the world is at the verge of a collapse and major changes? Do we adapt or collapse? Are we taken by the wave or able to ride it?