The image as a site of transgression: the case of Beirut counter-visuality since October 2019

Abstract

On 17 October 2019 in Beirut, a Lebanese state bodyguard confronted by demonstrators opened fire when a female protestor hit him with a side kick. Another protestor recorded this moment on his mobile phone. A single frame of the video footage was remediated shortly after as a still image and gained rapid traction across social media platforms, as did the original video. The circulation of the content online inspired a group of artists to remediate the digital image themselves into a series of artistic works, adding in the process additional layers of meaning and interpretation to its original context. Taking the digital image of the side kick as a case study, this qualitative research examines how five young Lebanese artists use ‘cyberartivism’ to participate in the rising wave of political and social transformation. Based on empirical material that consists of a series of interviews with five Lebanese artists, this study aims to understand the role of digital images in their transition from forms of evidence to remediated sites of transgression in the context of the October 2019 Revolution in Lebanon. Its purpose is to explore the way camera witnessing, connective witnessing, and the creative modification of an image and its circulation on social media can foster a sense of solidarity and dissent by empowering and strengthening protestors’ voices, thus generating new forms of leadership and agency.