Tag: photography

22 – Ala Buisir: Returning to traditions

When we think of climate change, it is the present that comes to mind – and how things were good in past. Looking back at our traditions, we used essential tools to make beautiful things.

 

That is what inspired this project. The traditional clothes were made from locally-sourced materials and then hand-crafted. Each item of clothing had a story to tell. Each region had its colour, material, embroidery and style for how to wear the garments. At times the clothes were passed on from one member of the family to another, because they were durable and made to last.

 

We need to revisit our traditions to see how we can make a change. Our fast way of life will have to change due to the damage we are causing to the Earth. So why not slow it down ourselves before it’s too late?

Photo of Ala BuisirAla Buisir is a documentary photographer born in Ireland with Libyan roots. A graduate with a BA in Photography from TU Dublin. Then an MA in Journalism from DCU and currently doing a PhD by practice in UL. Her work documents the social and political tension around us today. The aim is to raise awareness by presenting events through different perspectives in hopes that it may also bring about change.

Website: www.alabuisir.com

22 – Yasmine Hatimi: Based on a true story

I collected two testimonials for this project. The first is from a friend’s father, who used to spend his summer vacations in a little village named Dahomey, a few kilometres from Casablanca in Morocco.

He told me about his childhood home and its beautiful ocean view. Today, the rising sea levels are a threat to this house.

Not far from Dahomey is another village named Bouznika. While taking pictures of the ocean, I met a fisherman who told me about the seafood shortage, and about when times were better.

On this side of the village, the tide was dropping, leaving behind only waste.

Based on a true story is a portrait of a house full of memories, in danger.

Photo of Yasmine HatimiYasmine Hatimi (b. 1986 Casablanca) works as a photographer in Casablanca. In 2004, she left  Casablanca for Madrid to pursue degrees in cinematography and photography. After nine years  she returned to Morocco with the intention of rediscovering her country through her  photographic work.

An eternal dreamer, her work lies between melancholy and poetry, and seeks to transmit an  atmosphere inspired by her internal universe. Her latest work focuses on young Moroccan masculinity, which she approaches with a certain dreamlike romanticism.

Her work has been shown at festivals and venues including Photo España, Festival photo Saint  Germain, Alliance Française de SaPi, Musée Mohamed VI (Rabat). Her photoraphs have been featured in magazines and newspapers such as El Pais, Mille World,  Konbini, Nataal, Float photo Magazine and CNN Arabica .

Yasmine is part of the Koz Collective, a collective of four Moroccan visual artists working on  long term projects and sharing a passion for storytelling. Koz, meaning 4 in Amazigh, is an obvious pun that highlights the very essence of the members’ visual work, which, from documentary to fiction stand for a deeply rooted and keen urge of making sense of current events.

22 – Souheila Ghorbel: Winter Bloom

Winter Bloom (Al Layali Essoud الليالي السود  in Arabic) refers to that period stated in the Berber calendar from the 14th of January to the 2nd of February during which vegetation awakens from its hibernation state and starts blooming entering a new cycle, just like us humans go through emotional turmoil or sleeplessness before rising again and blossoming.

 

Winter Bloom began as a journey, a discovery, of the production process of nature. The Berber community used to refer to the agrarian calendar for their annual plantings, as the natural cycles had a significant impact on their food production.

 

While exploring the streets of Tunis in search of florist stores, I had the opportunity to talk about the “lyalli essoud“. I was taught that “a flower has a dream to bloom”. However, climate change is impacting this natural process, as in a warmer season, flowers bloom faster, and they also shed their natural color and smell.

 

Florists have this instinctive knowledge, inherited from the agrarian calendar, which was lost over time. It seems that people have forgotten how to live in accordance with their environment.

 

Throughout this work, I have found myself on the path of people working according to these forgotten cycles. They are instinctively aware of the adverse effects of climate change without being actively involved in the current awareness of this issue.

 

Souheila Ghorbel (1992) is a photographer who lives and works in Tunis, Tunisia.

Better known as Madame Ghorbelle, she can be described as an intuitive photomaker. She started photographing her friends using disposable cameras. Her eye then drifted to other subjects, and fed on the poetry of her surroundings, and her love for capturing moments has since grown significantly.

Souheila had her first solo show, Winter Bloom, in April 2021 in Tunis, Tunisia. An eponymous book was released through Local Groupe, an independent publishing house.

Recently, the artist took part in two group shows: Daily Cat Essen curated by Antwan Horfee in Gallery Ruttkowski 67 in Paris as well as Building Blocks at B7L9 in Tunis.

Her work appeared in the photobook edited by Estelle Marois, A Tunisian Tale alongside Tunisian artists and photographers.

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Three young boys jumping in and swimming around the water in an oasis.

22 – M’hammed Kilito: Hooked to paradise

Three young boys jumping in and swimming around the water in an oasis.
Photo: M’Hammed Kilito
Landscape of an oasis facing desertification, where the sand is encroaching on formerly green palm forests
Photo: M’hammed Kilito
A burned car abandoned in an oasis facing desertification
Photo: M’Hammed Kilito

“Hooked to paradise” is an ongoing and long-term photographic series highlighting the complex and multidimensional issues of oasis degradation in Morocco and its impact on its inhabitants.

 

Desertification, recurrent droughts and fires, changes in oasis agricultural practices, urban migration and a sharp drop in the water table are among the imminent threats to the existence of oases.

Photo of M'hammed Kilito
Photo: Vladimir Gheorghiu

Morrocan photographer M’hammed Kilito focuses on capturing narratives that are embedded in understanding the relationship between his collaborators and their environments, by covering issues related to cultural identity, the sociology of work and climate change.

In 2021, M’hammed was selected by Ateliers Medicis to take part in the national photographic commission of Regards du Grand Paris. In 2020, M’hammed co-founded KOZ, a collective of four Moroccan visual artists working on long term projects and sharing a passion for storytelling. The same year, he was designated by the British Journal of Photography among the 18 best emerging photographers from across the globe to watch, was selected as a 6×6 Global Talent by World Press Photo, became a National Geographic Explorer, received The Photography Prize of the Fondation des Treilles and won the Prize for The Contemporary African Photography.

His work has been shown at festivals and venues including Sharjah Art Foundation (Sharjah), Tate Modern (London), PhotoESPAÑA Festival (Madrid), National Museum of Photography (Rabat), Photo Vogue Festival (Milan) and Breda Photo Festival (Breda). His photographs have been featured in magazines and newspapers such as The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The British Journal of Photography, Monopol, L’Express and El Pais.

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