Leen Al Shemaly
To go past fourty, to continue, to create.
Before We Leave
Spiral
Linen
Ground
Concert Photography
Portrait Photography
Impressum
Leen Al Shemaly
13403 Berlin, Reinickendorf
Deutschland
© 2025 Going Past Fourty. All rights reserved.
To go past fourty, to continue, to create.
Before We Leave
Spiral
Linen
Ground
Concert Photography
Portrait Photography
Impressum
Leen Al Shemaly
13403 Berlin, Reinickendorf
Deutschland
© 2025 Going Past Fourty. All rights reserved.
Before We Leave
Before We Leave is a photographic exploration of four Berlin Wohngemeinschaften (shared living spaces), tracing the fragile yet enduring marks of communal life — from morning rituals and shared fridges to forgotten objects and marked walls. Through black and white photographs taken by the artist and color images created by residents, the project becomes a layered dialogue between individual memory and collective experience.
The book itself is crafted as an object of memory: photographs printed on rough ivory paper, interwoven with handwritten text from the WGs. Its cover is made from polished stainless steel, hand-embossed with a knife, and bound by hand using a Coptic stitch sewn through drilled metal plates. Each detail turns the publication into both an archive and an act of quiet resistance — honoring Berlin’s WGs as fleeting, vital sites of urban life.
May – June 2025
Participants: Albina, Coke, Hanna, Laura, Mati, Mel, Nastya, Rayah, Sita, and Sofia.