Toufic Beyhum
There are photographs that capture a single moment, a single idea—and then there are photographs that unravel a thousand meanings. Toufic Beyhum’s work falls into the latter category. His images present themselves as visual allegories, layered with cultural nuance and metaphor. His frames are not passive but demand interaction, compelling observers to lend their own rendition, making the work as much about the viewer as it is about the subject.
At the heart of Toufic’s photography lies a poignant commentary on culture, laced with sublime drollery. Whether it’s the falconry-inspired hoods of Burqa, the emoji-masks redefined through Namibian craftsmanship in Amoji, or the juxtaposition of streetwear sneakers with traditional thobes in Thobes & Creps, his photographs celebrate the tension between heritage and modernity.
This plurality, commonly found in his work, can be traced back to the constant movement that has defined Toufic’s life. Born in war-torn Beirut in 1974, he was exiled to London as a child of war, an experience that imbued his work with a sensitivity to cultural displacement and transformation. Later, his career as a creative took him across the globe, further enriching his visual lexicon and grounding his photography in an exploration of identity, heritage, and the interplay of cultures.
Toufic’s series Burqa has been acquired by institutions such as LACMA and The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, and it was featured in Yale Books’ Islamic Art – Past, Present, Future (2019).
His photographic book Emotions in Motion (2007) offered an unfiltered glimpse into the lives of Berlin's U-Bahn commuters, cementing his reputation as a photographer capable of finding narratives in the everyday. The book received widespread acclaim, with copies held in the New York Public Library, Berlin’s Universitätsbibliothek, and the International Center of Photography in New York City.
His Amoji series, meanwhile, has travelled from South Korea to Dubai, Norway, and beyond, becoming part of the permanent collection at Oslo’s Preus Museum.
His photography has been exhibited in London, Berlin, LA, New York, Milan, South Korea, Washington DC, Dubai, Sharjah, Nizhny Tagil, Oslo, and Miami