فتحي العريبي .. مصور متميز من الجماهيرية الليبية .. مجلة فن التصوير اللبنانية _ ع٣٩

Fathi Al-Araibi, a distinguished photographer from the Libyan Jamahiriya

Fathi Al-Oraibi is a photographer who was able to attract poets and writers to his work who were far from photographic work before getting to know his work. Among them we mention Ghada Al-Samman, Nizar Qabbani and the well-known cinematographer Ramses Marzouk.

In my meeting with the distinguished photographic artist Fathi Al-Araibi, it was necessary to take a preliminary tour of his works, which I had previously known since his first exhibition in 1965, and after addressing, inter alia, the great literary names that the photographer paid attention to. I asked him again about how to deal with the inanimate objects that move in front of him and whether he relies on the camera - which is available to everyone, or does he deal with something beyond that. My question, in short:

◻ How is the picture done to you, that is, how do you describe it?
- Sometimes I make a preliminary sketch of the picture, similar to the scenario of filming in the cinema, and the results come after that in accordance with the initial perception.. And I am not one of those photographers who depend on chance or a fleeting moment to achieve a brilliant picture.
So, my thirsty cat, for example, took me a long time as I trained my cat - Hisha - to drink from
The tap, and at first she refused it, but under the weight of thirst she gave in - to my camera - and after more than a week I got a very funny and very difficult picture.
So my pictures generally follow the style of posters and depend on the scenario and preliminary planning.

◻ This answer prompts a question about your study of this art, when and where?
The first credit goes to my father - may God have mercy on him - who was a fan of photography.

Which prompted me towards photography with passion and love, and at a later stage I became acquainted with the books of Mr. Abdel Fattah Riyad and studied them carefully. I also got to know this pioneer in one of my visits to Cairo and showed him my pictures and chose some of them to publish as part of his photographic books. These books paved the way for me during my study of cinematography and montage in Munich in 1969. In 1978, she studied film directing and screenwriting in London. Unfortunately, I stopped practicing photography since I worked in cinematography in 1968 when the Libyan TV was opened.

◻ But you have recently returned to photography extensively and with unparalleled enthusiasm. What is the reason?
The reason is a magazine - the art of photography, and this magazine inspired us to establish an art center under the name “Photography Amateurs Forum, and this forum provides technical explanations and methods of using cameras for free. photographic.
I mention here that while I was conducting this interview with the photographer, artist Fathi Al-Araibi, I visited him in this and the forum, which is a hall for public photography, and I asked him about the history of photography in the Libyan Jamahiriya and about the pioneers of this art among the Libyans. He answered me as follows:
- The art of photography in its practical and field form has its history in Libya and I cannot determine its beginnings, but it came to us with the Italian invasion in 1911 and remained monopolized by the Italians until they were evacuated from Libya in 1970. They were the owners of photographic shops and agents of his raw materials.
For a long time, the Libyans remained the site of the deported spectator, but some of them, by virtue of their contact with the Italians, became professional in this type of art for the sake of making a living and for the necessity of the image in practical life, without adding their own. The number of amateurs has increased since the sixties, and they are now constantly increasing, and the problem facing them is the lack of books And specialized magazines, and most of them practice this hobby without any artistic culture, which prompted me to collect my modest knowledge in a huge encyclopedic book that I called “Life is a Picture”, and it is likely to be published in the middle of this year.

◻ Who are the Libyan pioneers of photography?
- One of the most important pioneers of photography in Libya is the great plastic artist, Mr. Awad Obeida, and the postage stamp designer, the plastic artist, Mr. Fuad Al Kaabazi. They are now elderly, and both studied drawing and painting in Italy. From the younger generation, I mention the TV director Muhammad Abu Dajaja and the plastic artist Ali Al Abani, each of whom has his own unique style. attractive.

◻ It is noticeable that your interests have become divided between professional writing, television directing, and management of the Amateur Photography Forum. The question is: In which of these fields do you find yourself?
He gave me a cursory look and got busy sorting out the photos of this meeting. During that, he said:
Photography remains my first pleasure, although my work as a director prevents it because of the exhausting nature of television work. As for writing, it is not one of the permanent and fixed matters, although I was the first to meet photography amateurs for some time as well.

◻ Photography is your first pleasure, as you say. Tell me about your previous exhibitions, where were you held, and what are your upcoming projects in this field?

My eleventh exhibition will be held in Damascus under the supervision of the Fine Arts Syndicate under the auspices of the writer Mrs. Najah Al-Attar, Minister of Culture and National Guidance. This exhibition will include many samples of my artwork, 275 photographs that I took between 1964 and 1980, most of them in color.

As for my first exhibition, it was in 1965, and the last was a group one, and it was held in the middle of the year 1984. Between the first and the last, my pictures were shown in: Athens. Rome . Paris, Valena and London - I am looking forward to showing my photos in Baghdad. Where there is an upscale photographic renaissance and Arab leadership that deserves attention, especially the efforts of the artist Sami Al-Nasrawi, editor-in-chief of Al-Musawwar Al-Arabi magazine, and president of the Iraqi Photography Society. I mention here that I am an honorary member of this association.

◻ A final question. Are you a member of the editorial board of the Art of Photography magazine as well, or its special correspondent from the Jamahiriya, especially since you are linking it with the photography enthusiasts here?
- These are premature matters because my permanent and regular subscription now to this magazine suffices me, and then from time to time I contribute to the editing of Flash Corner, and some artistic contributions, and it is an honor for me that my literary and artistic production is published in a prestigious magazine that is supervised by an excellent elite of senior Arab photographers ⏹


From the papers of Fathi Al-Araibi

One of its importance and much cherished by the poet Nizar Qabbani. Says :
Dear artist Al-Lamh - Fathi Al-Araibi
Poetry is written in different ways, some write with their fingers like a poet or musician, some write with their voice like a bird, and some write with their eyes and lips like a beautiful woman.
Some of them write without writing like a lover.
As for you, you use all these methods together, giving the image its three dimensions: poetic, color, and sound. We used to think that the camera does not write poetry, but one look at these wonderful pictures is enough to make you an avant-garde poet. The camera turned into a poem in his hands.
- Beirut on 8/26/75 Nizar Qabbani - .