Google celebrates the Arab world’s first female photographer. See his photos

Today, the search site “Google” celebrates the 120th birthday of Palestinian photographer Karima Abboud, born November 18, 1896 in Nazareth, and considered the first woman to professionalize in photography in the Arab world. She comes from a family of Lebanese origin from the southern city of Khiam, who migrated in the mid-19th century to the city of Nazareth.

Karima Abboud studied the first stage in Nazareth, the secondary school in Jerusalem and the academy in Bethlehem. She then joined the Faculty of Arabic Literature at the American University of Beirut.

In Jerusalem, she learned the profession of photography, which has fascinated her since 1913, when her father gave her a camera on her seventeen birthday. I got attached to her and went to take pictures of her family and friends, as well as historical monuments, cities and natural places in Palestine and Lebanon.

We owe to Karima Abboud her great role in the dissemination of the profession and the culture of photography which was new in Eastern Arab society, especially since many conservative families did not agree to stand in front of the lenses. , with the exception of some families who took group photos and were documented by old photos of some families from Jerusalem, Jaffa, Haifa and even Gaza during the British Mandate era, which opened a special studio for photograph women in Bethlehem, so that women who come from conservative families can be photographed without embarrassment. Then, she opened a special workshop to color the pictures to give them sparkle and sparkle, and during this time she photographed various Palestinian cities such as Nazareth, Bethlehem, Caesarea, Tiberias and Haifa.

Karima Abboud opens photography studio in Bethlehem

Gradually, all his images spread to Beirut, Damascus, Choueifat, Salt and other Arab cities. Other photos taken by Karim Abboud of women wearing beautiful costumes were also found inside the studio, and these photos were from 1913.

Karima insisted on putting the name of the city of Nazareth in English in order to know its provenance. And in the twenties I wrote on the back of the photo (Karim Abboud, a solar photographer).

She died in 1955 and was buried in Bethlehem, leaving hundreds of photographs that capture important milestones in modern Palestinian history.