Tsawwar… Ali Zaraay
Crawling on the Dust
"I photographed this image in 2016 as part of my ongoing project Crawling on the Dust. Over nearly a decade, my style, aesthetics, and approach to the story have shifted, allowing space for experimentation as I followed my friend Haj Hani, a nomadic Bedouin in Egypt’s Delta, whose life is always on the move. This remains a dear photograph to me: Warda, from the Hababla tribe, on her wedding day. Ten years later, she is now a mother. Much has changed, but what endures for me are the intimacy, the friendships, and the stories. I have spent most of my twenties on this project, asking questions about movement, urban expansion, family, the road, imagination, archives, and animal–human intimacy—while continually rediscovering my relationship with photography. Looking back, this image has become an archive in itself.”
Crawling on the Dust is a decade-long project by Ali Zaraay, shaped by his friendship with Haj Hani El Sayed, a nomadic Bedouin from Egypt’s Nile Delta. Once sustained by their knowledge of the land, Hani’s family can no longer maintain their way of life amid urban expansion. Through Hani and his son Selim—whom Zaraay has photographed since childhood—he documents diverging paths: some remain tied to nomadic rhythms, others seek futures abroad. Selim reached Italy after a perilous journey; decades earlier, Hani attempted the same but returned to the Delta.
The work traces Bedouin life in motion: slow donkey steps, the heat of tents, long routes, and bonds with animals, reflecting on belonging to impermanent lands and on “crawling” as a rhythm of resistance. For more, follow @alizaraay
Tsawwar is an ongoing visual series in Daftar which explores the stories behind a photograph, taken in the region or by an Arab photographer, written in their own words.
