Margot Saba Abdo: A Photo Pioneer in Jerusalem

• marwan
• July 12, 2026

Margot Saba Abdo (1901 – 1974) was an exceptional female Palestinian photographer who worked in Jerusalem in the 1930s. Historian, sociologist Salim Tamari says she displayed a skill and mastery of the lens that surpassed Karimeh Abbud, another woman photographer from Nazareth at the time.  Margot was born in Jerusalem to a Greek mother whose brother was the Meltiadis Savvides (Saba), a well-known photographer working there in his Savvides Studios. This is where Margot learned to take pictures in her youthful years.

However, after her education at the Greek Orthodox school where she learned Arabic, Greek, English and Russian she joined her brother’s studio, Daoud Abdo. When he went to work as the chief photographer at the Palestinian Museum, Margot managed the studio. This was from 1930 to 1948 where she worked at family portraits. After the 1948 Nakba, she moved first to Cairo and then to Beirut, again working with her brother in his studio.