Anna Bosch Miralpeix

Bubble Beirut exhibition 02 June - 28th July 2022 - Sofar Grand Hotel - 60 x 90

“With this project I aim to capture a reality that is so tangible yet ephemeral: bubbles are perfect structures, but fragile.” 

Anna Bosch Miralpeix, documentary photographer.

A magnificent photograph of the Sofar Grand Hotel now in ruins. It was built at the end of the 19th century, when the town of Sofar was the destination of the bourgeois families escaping the extreme heat of summer in Beirut. It is located right opposite the station – also deserted today – where the trains from the capital to the Bekaa Valley stopped. In 1975 when the civil war broke out, the owners, the Sursock family, had to close it down.

Later, the solid wooden bedroom doors became fuel for the Syrian army who turned the hotel into one of their bases.

CaixaForum granted Anna Bosch the Fotopress award and over a period of five years in - between 2011 and 2017- she was able to get to know a series of people who were powerful, rich or both: ancient aristocratic lineage, prominent people belonging to the political community, expatriates who had returned with a fortune made abroad or entrepreneurs with businesses as powerful as they were dubious. 

The motto of: “Live for today, we don t know what tomorrow may bring, accompanied them as they partied the nights away in the best clubs and restaurants, with champagne flowing from one table to the next spattering their haute couture clothes.  

When the city gets up after the nocturnal excesses, the hangover is plain to see: corruption, lack of infrastructures and scars from the Civil War, still visible on many buildings, mean that describing the Beirut today as the Paris of the Middle East is bitterly ironic.  

Anna Bosch was able to travel to Lebanon on 9 occasions to complete this project - composed of 35 photographs. All are for sale.

Each photograph is printed in 5 copies, signed, numbered and delivered with a certificate of authenticity in one of the two formats: 60 x 90 or 40 x 60

Giclée print on photo on Canson Infinity Baryta Photographique 310 gsm-satin. 

This museum grade photo paper shows excellent black density and great image sharpness and gives a beautiful quality to the finish of the photo.