Maher Attar

Maher Attar is a highly renowned photographer with 30 years of experience at international photo agencies including AFP, Sygma and Corbis in Paris. He set up his own agency in 2002. In 2006, he founded Art&Privilège, a publishing company specialising in photography, which has published a number of books, and became an Epson-certified “Digigraph“.A retrospective of his work, A Twenty Year Journey was held in Paris in 2003, accompanied by a brochure with a limited print run of 1,200 copies. On May 18, 2006 his native country of Lebanon honored him with the exhibition Born in Lebanon on National Heritage Day. At the same time, to mark the International Year of Deserts and Desertification under the aegis of the United Nations Environment Programme, an exhibition of his work was held at the Espace Pierre Cardin in Paris entitled, Auprès de mon Arbre, featuring nine large format photographs celebrating nature, water and life. Maher’s Bonheur project blossomed in the summer of 2006 in the form of a series of exhibitions and a book. Following that, he published Once Upon a Time … Souk Waqif, capturing the mystery and the spirit of the old market in Doha. Images from the book were exhibited on large format canvas boards in Doha during the 2006 Asian Games and, later, at UNESCO headquarters in Paris. Portraits … Lebanon focused on personality portraits of leading figures from contemporary Lebanon’s economic, literary and artistic sectors. Lastly, the book DOHArama, a portrait of a desert metropolis between past and present, using panoramic techniques and Lomography, was exhibited at the QMA Gallery in the Doha Cultural Village in 2011. A first presentation of his lomography current work was presented at Anima art contemporary gallery at the Pearl in Doha in 2013. A resident of France for over twenty years, Maher is currently living in Qatar, where he is the director of the image bank at the office of Her Highness Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser and organises special projects, including, in 2009, a programme designed to teach children from Asian countries the joys and techniques of photography. Since May 2013, he is devoted to the project Challenges & Reality, witnessing the day-to-day of the children in the hope their right for education. In the corporate world, Maher Attar works in the field of luxury products. He has worked with, amongst other, Cristalleries Saint Louis, which belongedto the Hermès company, and for the Spanish architect, Santiago Calatrava.His work is collected by institutions such as the Qatar Museums Authority, UNESCO and major industrial groups, as well as by private individuals throughout the world.

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