Tsawwar… Fethi Sahraoui

The Cult of Souls

"It’s possible that photography pushed me to be in places I’d never been. But with rural celebrations, it was different, as I grew up visiting these festivities in late summer and early autumn. As soon as I was introduced to the process of making pictures, I’d go there to wander and wonder in my surroundings with a camera. It’s a place with so many frontlines, but what always captured my attention are the minor events in the backstage. Here’s a man who fainted while dancing to guesba music and getting into a state of trance, it was such an intense instant that we tend to call a ‘pregnant moment’ in the photography jargon. Years later I’m realizing that I don’t remember exactly how I made that picture; I was just fascinated about how these people can get into this state of trance, and photography was the right excuse for me to try and do the same. Photography can be a physical act, but it’s a spiritual one too."

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. Fethi Sahraoui is an Algerian documentary photographer and Magnum Foundation fellow whose work explores the local social landscape. A member of 220Collective, his work has been exhibited internationally and featured in The New York Times and the Carnegie Museum of Art. Follow his work at @Fethi Sahraoui