Tsawwar… Habib Saleh

"This photograph is part of a project called Colored Air. It began not with an idea, but with a heaviness I couldn’t name, a silence that settled deep inside me. On August 4, 2020, 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate ignited at Beirut’s port, unleashing a blast equal to 1.1 kilotons of TNT. Over 200 people were killed. Thousands were injured. 300,000 were displaced. Entire neighborhoods vanished. I lost my home, my studio—everything I knew. I fell into depression. That moment cracked something open in me. Without realizing it, I began searching for what still felt alive. And slowly, life began revealing itself again. Or maybe it was always there, waiting for me to be still enough to notice. I used to pass things by. Now, they’re suspended in the air—and the air feels colored. This project is a tribute to existence, and to those still here, carrying so much: grief, uncertainty, noise. In our small, quiet worlds, there’s beauty worth noticing, capturing, and cherishing. This photograph holds a moment that will never happen again—completely unrepeatable and immersive in every way. What struck me most was the way the girl’s hand moved, as if she were living one of the most beautiful moments of her life without even knowing it." 

Habib Saleh is a Lebanese photographer whose work centers on the quiet absurdity of everyday life. After the 2020 Beirut port explosion, his practice turned inward, blending daily observation with themes of memory, loss, and existence. Follow his work on @habibsfoto

Tsawwar is an ongoing visual series in Daftar which explores the stories behind a photograph, taken in the region or by an Arab photographer, written in their own words.