Hasan Ibrahim Belal

Hasan Ibrahim Belal, also known as Hasan Belal, (; born 1993) is a Syrian documentary photographer and photojournalist whose work represents everyday life in Syria during and after the Syrian civil war. He is noted for using photography as a form of visual storytelling, focusing on the social dimensions of conflict and reconstruction in his country.

Early life and education Belal was born in 1993 in Tartus, a coastal city in western Syria. At age 15, he started to take photographs of his family and started photography as a hobby. He studied economics at a Syrian university before turning to freelance photography in the early 2010s. Initially self-taught, he began documenting daily life in his surroundings, later receiving professional training through a programme organised by the Thomson Reuters Foundation with Dar al-Musawer in Beirut.

Career During the Syrian Civil War from 2011 to 2024, Belal’s photographic work centred on the experiences of Syrians living amid protracted conflict. He moved to Damascus in 2017, where he has since worked as a freelance photographer for humanitarian and news organisations including UNICEF, the International Committee of the Red Cross, Caritas,

In 2023, Belal published a photo-essay on women's lives and their rights in Syria. Commenting on these images, he highlighted how Syrian women are subject to many kinds of pressures: from social norms, religious frameworks, economic hardship, and the war’s upheaval. He noted that many women had to scale back their working lives, give up certain rights, and prioritise their children’s welfare above their own ambitions. He further pointed out that since the conflict that began in 2011, women in Syria — especially in front-line or displaced settings — have faced increased risks: sexual assault, displacement, detention, domestic violence, child marriage, reduced access to schooling and healthcare.

After the 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquake and commissioned by a Swiss Christian NGO, Belal travelled to Aleppo to capture the aftermath of the earthquake through photos, videos and interviews. His work depicts Franciscan monasteries and schools full of people in need of help, and reveals the personal stories of the children and adults who sought shelter there. It provides an insight into everyday life in the aftermath of the disaster.

After the civil war, Belal has commercially published his photographs and videos online at Getty Images. Among other scenes, these include videos, sometimes taken with the help of an aerial drone, of the traditional Feast of the Cross celebration in the Syrian Christian town of Maaloula, Muslims in the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus performing Eid al-Adha prayers and former prisoners in Sednaya prison celebrating freedom and calling for justice.

Apart from his documentary photography of public life, Belal published two series of pictures showing nude bodies in 2022.

Exhibitions Looking For Truth, Dar Al-Nimr, Beirut, July 2018 Beirut Image Festival, Open Door, Beirut, November 2019 Connexion Festival Building Bridges, Rome, Italy, December 2019 Vantage Point Sharjah 8, Sharjah Art Foundation , UAE, August 2020 Chemistry Of Feeling, Gulf Photo Plus, UAE, July 2021 I Feel Longing, Sierre, Switzerland, December 2022 I Feel Longing, Dar al Mussawir, Beirut, 2023 Moments Of Being, Matossian Gallery, Haigazian University, Beirut, Lebanon, September 2023

Reception Belal belongs to a generation of Syrian photographers who document the country’s transformation from within rather than from exile. His integration of ethnographic perspective with documentary photography has been recognised as contributing to broader understandings of post-war Syrian society. Belal has worked for the Turkish Anadolu Agency, and his images have been published by The Washington Post, the UK-based news organization Middle East Eye, and the French La Croix newspaper, among others. His photo-essays have appeared in international publications including US-based Lens Magazine, Dutch NOOR photo agency,

In December 2022, Belal was invited to an artistic residence programme resulting in a solo exhibition in Sierre, Switzerland, where he documented scenes from the lives of immigrants from Ukraine, Syria and Afghanistan.