By Samer Toutoungy---

Maybe student profile as a title wouldn't satisfy the artistic universe in which Marie-Joe Raidy floats, but with these humble words one may try to make it as real as possible. Marie-Joe, a graphic design student at AUB, started on her artistic mission at age five with her first written song. She has been taking piano lessons since the age of seven and at the age of seventeen released an album and two singles containing all the songs she had written and composed since she first discovered her gift. Amazingly Marie Joe also sculpts, paints, and is into the art of photography. Marie-Joe wanted to understand photography from her school days and pursued her passion until she became a distinguished photographer with a range of ideas and techniques she developed by herself, motivated by her artistic curiosity to acquire more. To MJ photography is an instrument of self-expression in which she expresses her thoughts and emotions. According to MJ, "Words aren't the only way to express what I feel; photography is my way" Marie-Joe held a photography exhibition under the title of Cardboard Union on the famous stairs of Daraj-el-Fan in Gemmaiyze, which started on 02/02/02 and ended on the 12/02/02. MJ was enthusiastic as well as worried, since it was her first independent exhibition, and the people were not familiar with this kind of art, but things turned out unexpectedly as half of her displayed photos sold out on the first day. The theme of the exhibition was "Je n'ai pas ˆ deformer; je pars de l'informe et je form"[famous quote by Georges Braque], in which MJ meant in a way that one can make a meaning out of something meaningless like the cardboard she used in her exhibition to display her photos--useless in nature, but ending up in a masterpiece. MJ, although a graphic designer, has refused to use the PC in her art and has restricted her photo panels to hand crafting only. Marie-Joe is very thankful to all who made it easy for her to make this big leap, especially Mr. Michel Rouhana and the ADJ organizers of Daraj-el-Fan in Gemmaize and her friends who understand and support her.