Since the end of the Lebanese civil war, Beirut has sought to regain its luster through a construction boom fueled by large inflows of foreign capital. To advertise their buildings, real estate agencies mount giant billboards around construction sites depicting the result of their city views; these image syntheses simulate the buildings, their interiors, surroundings, ghostly inhabitants, and lifestyles.
Over the past decade, Randa Mirza has photographed these virtual renderings as they are embedded in their real surroundings. This dichotomy and juxtaposition evokes the uncanny in these photographs. Her “Beirutopia series“ reflects the transformation of the city of Beirut, heralding the bursting of Lebanon’s economic bubble and ongoing financial collapse. With traffic restrictions and curfews mandated last spring to contain the Corona virus, Beirut looked like the utopia of these advertising announcements. “We promise, we deliver“ is a recent photo series that shows the city empty, soulless, as if on a rendered billboard.

Lebanon’s current crisis culminated in the August 4, 2020 port explosion that destroyed half of Beirut and its social fabric, leaving many of its residents:inside wounded and homeless. “View From Home“ is a photographic work by Jeanne et Moreau (aka Lara Tabet and Randa Mirza). The artists used binoculars to photograph the city from their house window overlooking the port of Beirut. The work spans two time periods – before and after the explosion – to highlight the cyclical pattern of construction and destruction in Beirut.
“Beirutopia“ is essentially the title of a counter-utopian situation that makes no distinction between illusory images and the pastiche narrative they embody. Randa Mirza’s photographs, in this sense, become spaces of resistance.