As contemporary crises manifest in the realm of the hyper-visible, there arises a need to scrutinize the interventionist potential of images imbuing the public sphere beyond their mediative function. In this presentation, I contend with the notion of “safety” and the ways through which it has been perceived and propagated through two Instagram profiles, that of Remie Akl, a female visual artist known for her “daring” aesthetics, and another page run by Egna Legna Besidet, a community of female migrant workers based in Lebanon. Both pages gained traction in the last few months as they have addressed women’s issues in the context of an unprecedented phase in Lebanon’s history comprising an economic collapse, a deadly blast, and a pandemic. By exploring the grounds upon which both Remi and Egna Legna have developed and disseminated their rhetoric on safety, I aim to revisit the notion of radicality vis a vis their image, and its association – or lack thereof – with a feminist discourse.

 

Samira Makki is a researcher and experimental filmmaker. She is currently a PhD student at the department of Art and Media Studies at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). She is interested in the notion of the militant image, the depictions of home in fiction film, and the rapport between politics and aesthetics.