Beirut has been unkind to many of its residents. In the past five years, it has been witness to a political uprising, an ongoing economic crisis, a pandemic, the world’s third largest explosion, and a war at its borders – all instigated and further exacerbated by a perpetual cycle of political corruption. Just like I did, everyone who was able to leave left, in search of a better tomorrow. Those who were unable to leave were left to their own devices to navigate life in a country with no system to support them.

With every trip back home, I have been observing the evolving changes in the urban and social landscapes. "A State of Statelessness" portrays the spatial manifestations of an absent ruling state – poverty, migration, lost childhoods, abandonment, destruction, environmental decay. It captures the collective feelings of anger, pain, tiredness, innocence, but also the will and the need to continue to pursue life however possible in a city where everything appears to be broken.

Sally Itani is an architect and self-taught photographer from Lebanon, currently based in London. Growing up between London and Beirut, her work explores notions of home, identity, and the politics of space. Sally is particularly interested in understanding informality, segregation, and the manifestations of social and systemic injustices through the built environment, and she holds walking tours exploring these themes around various parts of London.