Critical Review of Chad Elias's Posthumous Images on Lebanese Art and Memory

On December 10, 2020, ARTMargins Online published a review essay by Ghalya Saadawi that critically assesses Chad Elias's 2018 work, 'Posthumous Images: Contemporary Art and Memory Politics in Post-Civil War Lebanon.' This book explores the representation and creation of images in the context of post-civil war Lebanon, focusing on artists active since the 1990s across various mediums, including installation and performance. Saadawi points out significant flaws and theoretical gaps in Elias's analysis, particularly the absence of frameworks for collective memory and communities of witnessing. She argues that these omissions reinforce human rights ideologies, neglecting the critical social history necessary for understanding post-civil war art in Lebanon and beyond.