A morning by the sea, October 2025
On a warm morning at the Corniche in Beirut, I met these boys and we spent a little bit of time talking, as they asked me to capture them. Their daily routine includes swimming and taking in the sun before they start their missions of the day, finding ways to provide for their families by all means possible.
Saria Chatila is a Lebanese multidisciplinary artist, documentary photographer, and community organizer based in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal. She is the co-founder of Houna, a global initiative centering SWANA communities through art, education, wellbeing, and cultural reconnection. Her practice is rooted in the belief that stories live everywhere - in the gestures of everyday life, in the spaces people create for one another, and in the memories carried across generations. Saria is drawn to the intimate moments that reveal how people experience and make sense of the world around them. Her work moves between people, places, and generations, with a particular interest in culture, identity, and mental health.
Tsawwar is an ongoing visual series in Daftar that explores the stories behind a photograph, taken in the region or by an Arab photographer, written in their own words.
