Temporary nomads

Abdellah joined Thomas and his team for the Arhal project in 2017, the journey started with traveling with Touda and Brahim family from south of Jbel Saghro, crossing the high Atlas Mountains and finishing by Tamda’s prairie.

In 2018 the team went back to visit the family in their summer camp, and the winter camp after that. During the time spent with the family, the team and Abdellah were able to get closer to the family and have more understanding about their way of life.

Abdellah Azizi believes that the key to a sincere photo is spending as much time as you can with the subject. Being respectful helps in the process. During Arhal project, Abdellah was welcomed and trusted by the family, which allowed him to capture intimate moments that it would not have been possible otherwise. For this project, the lighting and the colors were important but not as much as documenting the life of the family. Waiting for the right moment was more important than the right light. However Abdellah tried to capture the right moment in the right light as much as possible. Arahl was Abdellah’s first long term project, where he learned about archeology, history, nomadic culture, and also more about his own culture.

To day the work is exhibited at the Historisches und Völkerkundemuseum St.Gallen