By Saneela Jawad
“It should go without saying that every society has an ‘everyday’,” said Lindsay Mackenzie, the manager of the Everyday Middle East Instagram feed. “But Western media coverage of the Middle East tends to edit that out in the process of selecting which stories to tell.”
Going beyond the stereotypes and representation by mainstream media, Mackenzie’s Instagram account is one of the many beautiful feeds that showcase a different side of the Middle East, offering us a fuller, textured reality of life in the region.
Search for Lebanon in the news, for example, and you are more likely to find stories involving the country’s civil war, regional conflict or current power vacuum. These stories are important, but they fail to capture reality in the region beyond the slew of negative headlines.
Showcasing a different side of Lebanon, these colorful Instagram accounts offer viewers a more diverse look into Lebanese culture, art, daily life historic ruins and natural heritage, capturing the essence of a land filled with hope, rich culture and beautiful experiences.
1. Live Love Beirut – @livelovebeirut
Starting out as a small campaign by two friends in 2012 to celebrate and appreciate the beauty of their country Lebanon, Live Love has now blossomed into a social enterprise working out of Beirut and New York to create hope. The team has even become the Ministry of Tourism’s official campaign for the nation. Eventually creating channels for every city in the country, Live Love Beirut has garnered more than 100K followers and more than 3,300 posts on Instagram, filled with breathtaking vistas, stories and cultural vignettes within the region.
2. Beirut Corners – @beirutcorners
As a country with a long history of conflict, the world tends to overlook the snippets of creativity and beauty that lie within the unseen cities of Lebanon.
Beirut Corners is the perfect account to help notice the Lebanese capital’s hidden beauty and little treasures that tell a different story of Lebanon.
3. The Lebanese Foodies – @thelebanesefoodies
No Instagram list is complete without an option for the foodies in all of us. Portraying the rich culture of Lebanese cuisine and mouth-watering snippets of nosh, this aggregator account is a beautiful guide for foodies looking to find the best bites in town, food ‘grammers looking for inspiration or good ol’ foodies who love delicious new feeds. Either ways, hunger is definitely guaranteed.
4. L’Armoiredelana – @larmoiredelana
For “a peephole into a beautiful yet eccentrically fashionable closet for you to discover through daily posts” look no further than Lana El Sahely’s L’Armoiredelana, a gorgeous feed filled with glamour, fashion cravings, trends, discoveries and encounters.
Born and raised in Cameroon, El Sahely is a popular fashion blogger, freelance stylist and an undergrad in economics and political studies in Beirut whose blog and Instagram account is the next daily fashion update to your closet.
5. Ashekman – @ashekman
For your daily dose of colourful street art and vibrant graffiti in Lebanon, identical twins Omar and Mohamed Kabbani – aka Ashekman (Lebanese slang derived from the French term for car muffler) give us a stunning window into the burgeoning world of urban art in Beirut and beyond. This Arabic street art, hip-hop and urban wear group’s style is raw, striking and powerful, showcasing some of the country’s most remarkable artistry in a rich medium that allows for unrestricted expression of ideas, statements and opinions.
6. Serge Najjar – @serjios
If you think Serge Najjar’s feed is filled with works of art, think again.
They are actually seemingly simple snapshots of everyday life in Lebanon, drawing on the country’s architecture and constructivism to make every post look like remarkable abstract art.
Through his photographs, he aims “to show that art is not about what you see but how you see it.”
7. Haig Adventures – @haigadventures
With a passion for cycling and mountain biking around Lebanon, Lebanese-Armenian Haig Melikian travels throughout Lebanon to get the most breath-taking views and captures of the country that people usually miss out on.
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