Bourj Hammoud in northeast Beirut is home to a close-knit, vibrant Armenian community of shopkeepers, craftspeople and artists, young and old, a thriving combination of modern commerce and traditional trades. In less than a century the area has transformed itself from a tent city of refugees—the Armenians who fled Turkey in 1915 and began flocking here in the 1920s—to a bustling urban economic center. It is here that Ariane Delacampagne, a photographer of Armenian descent, chose to focus her lens. She spent years developing close connections to the remarkable people working and living here: the tailors and cobblers, embroiderers and clockmakers, jewelers and gem cutters, and the families. The result is an unforgettable portrait of the spirit and courage, the enterprise and heritage, which forms the soul of Bourj Hammoud.
