The Arab Image Foundation is a non-profit organization established in Beirut to locate, collect, preserve and present the photographic heritage of the Middle East, North Africa and the Arab Diaspora. The ongoing research of photographs started in 1997 and, until today, covers Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Iraq, Iran, Mexico, Argentina and Senegal.

The Arab Image Foundation’s projects and activities fall under three major programs: - Photographic research program: AIF initiates research missions in order to locate and collect photographic material, whether professional photography or anonymous and amateur. - Preservation and collection management program: AIF preserves the photographs by digitizing them and archiving them in a cold storage room. The images are entered and documented in an online database that enables the access to the collection. - Public outreach program.

AIF organizes exhibitions and publishes books and produces films in order to make accessible the collection and promote it. The Foundation promotes the works in its collection in gallery and museum exhibits, in magazine or book publications, monographs, films, and collectible merchandise, such as postcards and postersook publications, monographs, films, and collectible merchandise, such as postcards and posters.