{"id":19336,"date":"2026-09-09T11:38:34","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T08:38:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/al-rawiya.com\/?p=19336"},"modified":"2026-09-09T11:55:20","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T08:55:20","slug":"fann-w-fenjen-baha-suleiman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/al-rawiya.com\/ar\/fann-w-fenjen-baha-suleiman\/","title":{"rendered":"Fann w Fenjen: Baha Suleiman"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"19336\" class=\"elementor elementor-19336\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-44c3f64 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"44c3f64\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-50354da\" data-id=\"50354da\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-d38d76c elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"d38d76c\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Where Water, Land, and Belonging Meet\n<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-f453c1e elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"f453c1e\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-19369f0\" data-id=\"19369f0\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-ae7c02e elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"ae7c02e\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/dontblamebaha\/?hl=en\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Baha Suleiman<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, photography has never been separate from the question of where and how he belongs. A Palestinian Jordanian documentary photographer, filmmaker, and visual artist, Baha began taking photographs as a way of documenting the people, places, and everyday moments around him, building a visual record that felt closer to the Amman he knew than the city he saw represented elsewhere.<\/span><\/i><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Over time, that instinct to document became intertwined with larger questions of land, water, borders, and inherited memory. From his complicated relationship with Amman to the waters separating Jordan from Palestine, Baha\u2019s work traces the ways geography can shape identity, and what it means to feel deeply connected to places that can, at the same time, feel distant or inaccessible.<\/span><\/i><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now based in Cape Town, that distance has brought new questions into focus. In conversation with Al Rawiya, Baha reflects on building an alternative archive of Amman, growing up Palestinian in Jordan, his uneasy relationship with water, and what leaving home has revealed about the work he wants to make.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-0ebb739 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"0ebb739\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-fb399a2\" data-id=\"fb399a2\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-8da6bab elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"8da6bab\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"679\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0680.webp?fit=679%2C1024&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-19337\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0680.webp?w=679&amp;ssl=1 679w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0680.webp?resize=199%2C300&amp;ssl=1 199w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0680.webp?resize=300%2C452&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0680.webp?resize=600%2C905&amp;ssl=1 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 679px) 100vw, 679px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-37b009b elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"37b009b\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Photo of Baha by Deborah Howett, courtesy of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/dontblamebaha\/?hl=en\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Baha Suleiman<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-4ebec4f elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"4ebec4f\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-fc4f766\" data-id=\"fc4f766\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-99e2b13 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"99e2b13\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><b>So, how do you usually introduce yourself? Who are you, and what do you do?\u00a0<\/b><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I&#8217;m Baha Suleiman, a Palestinian Jordanian documentary photographer and filmmaker\/visual artist. My work represents a lot of my identity and self-existence. Currently, I&#8217;m studying film, politics, and religion in Cape Town, South Africa.<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><b>How did your early experiences shape the way you see the world through your camera?<\/b><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I think it has always been as much about documenting as it has been about taking pictures. I knew I wanted to document my existence, my family\u2019s existence, and my story, but I didn\u2019t necessarily think photography would be the specific tool I would use.<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Photography came from a big influence within my family. There are always pictures, and there\u2019s always a camera in every family\u2019s house. But what I loved was that the pictures in my family\u2019s house felt quite artsy compared to a lot of the other family photographs I saw. That inspired me to find something in between: I wanted to document and take pictures that looked like my family\u2019s photographs, but I also wanted to make artistic images.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Photography became the visual tool I use to document my story and my identity, which is a story similar to that of six million people, if not more. Growing up around photographs, but also lost documents, lost identities, and lost stories, made me feel that these traces of your history and your family need to be documented somehow. I think I just felt like it was my turn to document.<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><b>What are usually the subjects and themes of your photography? What do you wish to capture through your photos?<\/b><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I would say the main themes in my work are water, land, and belonging. Those are probably the broad three, and I think they come from things that a lot of people with experiences similar to mine struggle with. They\u2019re also three things I\u2019ve always felt a certain awkwardness or discomfort around.<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As I\u2019ve grown older, I\u2019ve realized how much we struggle with our relationship to land and with belonging: who we belong to, but also, on a more personal level: Who am I? Who am I supposed to be? And who will I become?<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Water came into that through growing up in Jordan, quite far from large bodies of water. A lot of my work explores what it means to engage with and rebuild your identity around something that has, in a way, always been taken from you. It made me think more about how so many colonized places are by the sea, and about how both sides of my family come from places connected to water.<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">My mother\u2019s family is from Yaffa, while my father\u2019s family is from Al-Qalqilya in the West Bank. After leaving Palestine, both families went to Kuwait, where both of my parents were born. So water was always present in our family\u2019s geography. But when it came to my generation, that relationship was lost because we grew up in Jordan. Water almost shifted from being associated with the ocean and something beautiful to becoming a border.<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That\u2019s where those three things began to tie together for me: bodies of water, land, and belonging. Water became connected to questions of land and borders. As a Palestinian Jordanian, I find myself asking: Where do we belong within all of this land and water? Who gets to say, \u201cThis is yours\u201d or \u201cThis is not yours\u201d?<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It also makes me question why I feel so awkward around water. I\u2019ve been living in Cape Town for more than a year and a half now, and I still feel that awkwardness around the ocean. I don\u2019t have this beautiful or romantic relationship with it. I\u2019m still trying to understand where I belong in relation to water, and how I\u2019m supposed to interact with it.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-805c9bf elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"805c9bf\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"577\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0685.webp?fit=800%2C577&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-19347\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0685.webp?w=1418&amp;ssl=1 1418w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0685.webp?resize=300%2C217&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0685.webp?resize=1024%2C739&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0685.webp?resize=768%2C555&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0685.webp?resize=600%2C433&amp;ssl=1 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-ea9a425 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"ea9a425\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cPalestine from afar.\u201d 2023. Dead Sea, Jordan. Photo by <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/dontblamebaha\/?hl=en\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Baha Suleiman<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-120d4db elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"120d4db\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-5805608\" data-id=\"5805608\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-abbc4f7 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"abbc4f7\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><b>Do you think part of that discomfort comes from feeling like you missed an experience you were supposed to have with water?<\/b><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yeah, I think of it as a missed experience, but I also think it took away a part of my identity. Most of the stories I grew up hearing from my family were, to some extent, connected to water. So I grew up with this idea that water is beautiful and amazing, that life comes from water\u2014your body is even around 70 percent water. And yet, for me at least, being around it feels so awkward. It\u2019s like, what do I do?<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I also think there\u2019s something about the exclusivity of water. If you want to swim in a clean, comfortable body of water, you often have to pay for access.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><b>And how does access\u2014or the lack of it\u2014shape that relationship with water?<\/b><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We also have the Dead Sea. What\u2019s also funny is that the Dead Sea is dying, and it has been shrinking since the 1980s. In another 20 or 30 years, it might not exist anymore. It\u2019s strange to think that for a lot of people in my generation, by the time we have kids, the Dead Sea as we know it might no longer exist.<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The problem is also tied to Israel. Like many countries in the region, we have a water problem. Jordan specifically has very little water, especially drinking water. Israel faces water scarcity as well, and one of the methods it has used is taking water from these shared water sources.<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Dead Sea gets its water through a larger system that begins around Jabal al-Sheikh. When the snow melts, the water flows toward Lake Tiberias, then through the Jordan River and eventually into the Dead Sea. But Israel has diverted and disrupted that flow over the years, and the Dead Sea has continued to shrink. Its water level has dropped dramatically. You can physically see how much it has receded.<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s crazy to think that even the Dead Sea, which is honestly a terrible body of water to swim in, is being taken away from us.<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Then there\u2019s the Red Sea and Aqaba. I\u2019ve always been fascinated by Aqaba and by how you feel when you\u2019re there. Jordan is a country of around 11 million people, and we have such a small stretch of coastline\u2014maybe 100 kilometers, probably much less. Then, within that, you have all the hotels and private properties, so there\u2019s very little public access to the water.<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I became really fascinated by what that limited access does to our relationship with water, particularly in Jordan, where so much of the population is Palestinian. I started asking people I knew about their experiences in Aqaba, and so many of us shared the same feeling: being at the beach feels weird and uncomfortable because we\u2019re simply not used to it.<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When I moved to Cape Town, I also started thinking about this historically. For a long time under apartheid, beaches were segregated. There were beaches designated for white people, and you can still find photographs of signs that said \u201cWhites Only.\u201d There were specific beaches where Black people were allowed to go.<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I started seeing a similarity in the way access can shape your relationship with water across generations, and it\u2019s similar to Palestinians\u2019 experience. A lot of Black people here don\u2019t know how to swim because their parents couldn\u2019t swim, and their grandparents couldn\u2019t swim. There can be this inherited fear or unfamiliarity around water because generations of people were denied the same access to it. I can\u2019t swim either, and a lot of people in my family can\u2019t swim.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-fb5ed32 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"fb5ed32\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-766d55a\" data-id=\"766d55a\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-9b6ac82 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"9b6ac82\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"530\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0687.webp?fit=800%2C530&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-19351\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0687.webp?w=1544&amp;ssl=1 1544w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0687.webp?resize=300%2C199&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0687.webp?resize=1024%2C679&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0687.webp?resize=768%2C509&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0687.webp?resize=1536%2C1019&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0687.webp?resize=600%2C398&amp;ssl=1 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-4ff881f elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"4ff881f\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Baha by the sea. Photo by Saleh Saadi, courtesy of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/dontblamebaha\/?hl=en\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Baha Suleiman<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-a9258ac elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"a9258ac\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-09bfeb8\" data-id=\"09bfeb8\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-d6d7034 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"d6d7034\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><b>At what point did you start seeing water not just as water, but as a border? And how did that change the way you think about the horizon?<\/b><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When I started looking at borders, I realized that there was often water. And then, when I started thinking about water, I realized that it was also always about borders.<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Because of that, I think the idea of the horizon didn\u2019t really exist for me. Often, when you\u2019re looking out at water from Jordan, you\u2019re also looking at land, and that land is Palestine.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Something actually happened recently. I was exhibiting at the Cape Town Art Fair in February, which is one of the biggest art fairs in Africa, with around 50,000 people attending. One of my photographs, shot in Aqaba looking out toward Palestine, was being exhibited.<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I don\u2019t know if you know this, but Nelson Mandela was imprisoned on Robben Island, which is around seven kilometers off the coast of Cape Town. An older white woman came up to me at the fair, looked at the photograph, and said, \u201cWow, you looking out onto Palestine really reminds me of Nelson Mandela looking out from Robben Island toward Cape Town\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was funny because it\u2019s actually quite a similar distance. Even over the past few years, I would go with my friends to swim and find myself just staring out at Palestine through this misty cloud.<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I remember in 2018, Yayha Sinwar spoke about walking along the shores of Gaza and seeing teenagers staring at the horizon, imagining what might be beyond it. I thought about that a lot because I\u2019ve always been interested in this idea of the horizon and what exists beyond it.<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But in Jordan, there was no horizon. There was always something blocking it. You looked across the water, and there was land\u2014and that land was Palestine.<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><b>In your old photos, Amman is a pretty prominent character. It appears in your work through very ordinary, mundane things, capturing mundane life. What does Amman mean to you and what\u2019s the story you\u2019re trying to showcase about Amman through your photography?<\/b><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I think, again, it depends on who you ask. I grew up in Amman within a specific background and identity\u2014being Palestinian, and also being Palestinian from a particular class. Amman is probably similar to places like Beirut or Cairo, where you have this love-hate relationship with the city. But there\u2019s also this feeling that the city itself has some hate toward you.<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When you\u2019re Palestinian, you grow up experiencing racism and with this idea that Jordan doesn\u2019t necessarily want you as a Palestinian. It\u2019s quite an insane thing to grow up with as a kid because you don\u2019t really understand it. You think, we look exactly the same, we speak the same language, so how can you be racist toward me?<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So there\u2019s always been this strange relationship with Amman where I think: This is all I know. This is where I grew up. This is where I was born. My family is here. Everything I love is here. Everything I see and do is here. But at the same time, it feels like this place doesn\u2019t want me here. Why?<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So I started trying to build things that would make me love Amman, miss Amman, and feel excited about Amman. Photography became a way for me to document my day-to-day life there. I wanted the world to see us from a different point of view.<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A few years ago, I went to an exhibition of historical photographs of Jordan. It was an archive, and most of the photographs had been taken by British, German, and American photographers. There was this very colonial point of view to the images. Historically, photography has been used as a tool\u2014and at times almost as a weapon\u2014in the region and throughout wars.<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You could also see it in the relationship between the photographer and the subject. In many of these photographs, the subjects seemed almost shocked by the person taking their picture because the photographer was clearly a Westerner.<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And they photographed very specific things. Jordan became the desert, the ruins, Petra\u2014these particular subjects that were used to define the place. In that process, the city and the country lost some of their identity because everything was reduced to these recognizable landmarks. It\u2019s kind of like Beirut and the Raouch\u00e9 rocks. Like, who cares about that damn rock?<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-92311e6 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"92311e6\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-2a3094f\" data-id=\"2a3094f\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-b2c9028 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"b2c9028\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"512\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0686.webp?fit=800%2C512&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-19349\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0686.webp?w=1602&amp;ssl=1 1602w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0686.webp?resize=300%2C192&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0686.webp?resize=1024%2C655&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0686.webp?resize=768%2C491&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0686.webp?resize=1536%2C982&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0686.webp?resize=600%2C384&amp;ssl=1 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-0608cb9 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"0608cb9\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cPray\u201d. 2023. Amman, Jordan. Photo by <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/dontblamebaha\/?hl=en\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Baha Suleiman<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-75b4f74 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"75b4f74\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-cc7bb03\" data-id=\"cc7bb03\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3ded5ca elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"3ded5ca\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><b>What did you want to show about the city that you weren\u2019t seeing elsewhere?<\/b><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I wanted to take pictures of things that felt familiar to the people who actually live there or come from there, things they could look at and recognize. So I started creating something called the Alternative Amman Photo Archive. It was always meant to be a never-ending project.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The idea was to ask: What is this city? What does it actually look like? How do young people see it? I wanted to move away from this very colonial point of view and create a different perspective on Amman.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-e341d37 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"e341d37\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-b1db93f\" data-id=\"b1db93f\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-772d9fe elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"772d9fe\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0683.webp?fit=800%2C534&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-19343\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0683.webp?w=1536&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0683.webp?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0683.webp?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0683.webp?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0683.webp?resize=600%2C400&amp;ssl=1 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1d7bacd elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"1d7bacd\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWhere is the sea?\u201d. 2024. Aqaba, Jordan. Photo by <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/dontblamebaha\/?hl=en\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Baha Suleiman<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-d7b8e77 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"d7b8e77\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-7fd7386\" data-id=\"7fd7386\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-fed95f0 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"fed95f0\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I wanted to make this archive because I loved Amman, but I never really felt rewarded for that love. It always felt like the city was fighting back. That relationship translated even more into my work when I started photographing a lot of the protests in the streets.<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now, I actually struggle to take pictures. I think leaving made me realize how much of my work is tied to Jordan. I don\u2019t actually care about other shoots or other subject places in the same way. I just want to photograph this one specific thing, and that thing is Jordan. More specifically, it\u2019s Amman.<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And I think Amman is such a Palestinian city, which is strange in itself\u2014to have a city built around the displacement of people. Jordan is one thing, but Amman specifically was built to accommodate Palestinians. For me, that history is inseparable from what the city is and from how I photograph it.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-a3b0fcf elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"a3b0fcf\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-e982e0a\" data-id=\"e982e0a\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-dc6d16e elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"dc6d16e\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"588\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0684.webp?fit=800%2C588&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-19345\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0684.webp?w=1395&amp;ssl=1 1395w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0684.webp?resize=300%2C220&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0684.webp?resize=1024%2C752&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0684.webp?resize=768%2C564&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0684.webp?resize=600%2C440&amp;ssl=1 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-0238c61 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"0238c61\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cResistance from a far\u201d. 2024. Amman, Jordan. Photo by <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/dontblamebaha\/?hl=en\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Baha Suleiman<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-12c6042 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"12c6042\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-543748a\" data-id=\"543748a\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-04c931f elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"04c931f\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><b>Tell us a bit about the photography community in Amman. What does this community look like? Did you find a space for yourself there? Do you feel like there\u2019s something still missing in that scene in Jordan or Amman specifically?<\/b><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I started shooting film photography specifically around 2017 or 2018, and at the time I was developing my rolls at these old studios in Wast al-Balad. Eventually, when I started taking pictures of my friends\u2014who maybe looked a little different\u2014a lot of the guys working at these studios would look at the photographs and be like, \u201cWhat is this? Who are these people?\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Then, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/darkroomamman\/?hl=en\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Darkroom Amman<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> opened in 2018 and really became established around 2020. It\u2019s been very important in my photography career. In 2021, I started developing my photographs there and Lina Khaled, one of the founders, called me one day and said, \u201cHey, we like your pictures. Do you want to work at the Darkroom?\u201d I immediately dropped everything and started working there.<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I\u2019m incredibly thankful for that, for Lina, and for the number of people I met through the Darkroom. The whole idea behind it was to build a sense of community around photography. What the Darkroom was trying to create was a place where amateur photographers, or really anyone interested in photography, could feel like they were part of something.<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I was very lucky to develop quite quickly because I was surrounded by amazing artists and people who were much older and more experienced than me. They were also incredibly open to teaching, giving, and passing on what they knew.<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Darkroom is still doing that. They\u2019re still teaching photography, putting on exhibitions, and trying to build this community of people around analog photography.<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unfortunately, I think there\u2019s still a certain ceiling within the arts in Jordan, and not just in photography. I\u2019ve only been gone for a year and a half, but it often feels like the same cycle keeps repeating itself. You have an art residency, and then the same ten people do the residency again and again. The same people get the grants, and then the same people get the next grants. There\u2019s a point where the opportunities and the people accessing them just keep circulating within the same relatively small group.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-06dd83e elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"06dd83e\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-92fc845\" data-id=\"92fc845\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1dbc724 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"1dbc724\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"654\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0681.webp?fit=654%2C1024&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-19339\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0681.webp?w=654&amp;ssl=1 654w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0681.webp?resize=192%2C300&amp;ssl=1 192w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0681.webp?resize=300%2C470&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0681.webp?resize=600%2C939&amp;ssl=1 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 654px) 100vw, 654px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-f808dc5 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"f808dc5\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Photo of Baha by Tara Tarawneh, courtesy of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/dontblamebaha\/?hl=en\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Baha Suleiman<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-9d44480 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"9d44480\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-f89ca66\" data-id=\"f89ca66\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-a871d92 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"a871d92\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><b>We\u2019ve spoken about photography and how closely it\u2019s tied to your identity. When you step away from your work, what does the rest of your life look like?<\/b><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I think, more and more over the past few years, I\u2019ve lost some of my sense of identity because taking pictures was so tied to my identity and to how I understood my own existence. When you\u2019re Palestinian, it\u2019s hard to be anything else. Your entire life is characterized sometimes by proving yourself.<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That became even more complicated when I moved to South Africa because you can become very tokenized. I also DJ, which is another creative outlet for me, and I DJ quite a lot in South Africa. After almost every gig, my friends will come up to me and say they overheard someone saying, \u201cOh my God, you know the DJ is from Gaza.\u201d And I\u2019m like, why is that necessary?<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s difficult because you spend your whole life fighting for and holding onto your identity, but then suddenly you find yourself being reduced to that identity by other people. It\u2019s hard to figure out how not to become only the identity you\u2019ve spent your whole life trying to protect.<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But speaking of DJing, I really love music, and I especially love Arabic music. I started DJing here with a friend of mine who is also Palestinian. We started DJing together because we wanted to create the feeling of an Arab party; they\u2019re the best parties you\u2019ll ever go to.\u00a0 But we wanted to bring that feeling here without making it too corny.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So we called it Azime, like an invitation or gathering.<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The reason I brought up the whole \u201cOh my God, I heard the DJ is from Gaza\u201d thing is because we actually tried to separate the project from that. We were very specific about saying, \u201cThis is not a Palestinian thing.\u201d It\u2019s broader than that. It\u2019s very much about the \u2018SWANA\u2019 region\u2014North Africa, the diaspora, the East\u2014and people who are constantly tied to these different identities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Outside of taking pictures and DJing, I walk a lot. I go on a lot of walks in Cape Town because it\u2019s such a beautiful place.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I wish I did more things that separated who I am from what I am, if that makes sense. Unfortunately, I think I became so wrapped up in my own identity that my whole existence became part of it.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-b9c417b elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"b9c417b\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-01e8370\" data-id=\"01e8370\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-880c6f1 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"880c6f1\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"519\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0682.jpg?fit=800%2C519&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-19341\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0682.jpg?w=3999&amp;ssl=1 3999w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0682.jpg?resize=300%2C195&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0682.jpg?resize=1024%2C664&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0682.jpg?resize=768%2C498&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0682.jpg?resize=1536%2C996&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0682.jpg?resize=2048%2C1328&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0682.jpg?resize=600%2C389&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0682.jpg?w=1600&amp;ssl=1 1600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0682.jpg?w=2400&amp;ssl=1 2400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-93a846d elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"93a846d\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cAllah\u201d. 2023. Amman, Jordan. Photo by <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/dontblamebaha\/?hl=en\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Baha Suleiman<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-231b88b elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"231b88b\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-05afb96\" data-id=\"05afb96\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-29c11ea elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"29c11ea\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><b>Do you have any exciting projects you\u2019re working on or looking forward to in the near future?<\/b><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I can actually tell you a little bit about a project I\u2019m working on. It still doesn\u2019t really have a name, but the working title is <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Home From Afar<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I started developing it with one of my best friends, Zakaria Hussin. He\u2019s half Palestinian and half American, so we grew up somewhat similarly and have very similar interests. We\u2019re also both documentary photographers. The difference is that because Zakaria is half American, he can go to Palestine.<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We started thinking about how so much of Palestinian identity\u2014and specifically my own identity\u2014is built through memories, stories, and photographs passed down from our grandparents and parents. So with this project, we\u2019re trying to build new memories from the ground up through each other.<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In a way, I\u2019m using Zakaria to build new memories through his trips to Palestine. For example, I don\u2019t know much of my dad\u2019s side of the family. I don\u2019t know my dad or much of his family, so a lot of the memories and stories I grew up hearing about Al-Qalqilya have been lost.<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now, when Zakaria goes there, I write him notes about things I remember hearing in family stories, and he tries to trace them or find them. Through the photographs and videos he makes there, we\u2019re rebuilding these memories that I\u2019ve only ever known through stories I overheard throughout my life.<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We\u2019re planning to make a short film around that, and that\u2019s the project I\u2019m working on at the moment.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Where Water, Land, and Belonging Meet For Baha Suleiman, photography has never been separate from the question of where and how he belongs. A Palestinian Jordanian documentary photographer, filmmaker, and visual artist, Baha began taking photographs as a way of documenting the people, places, and everyday moments around him, building a visual record that felt [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19337,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[322],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fann-w-fenjein"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/al-rawiya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_0680.webp?fit=679%2C1024&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-rawiya.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-rawiya.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-rawiya.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/al-rawiya.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/al-rawiya.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19336"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/al-rawiya.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19336\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19358,"href":"https:\/\/al-rawiya.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19336\/revisions\/19358"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/al-rawiya.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-rawiya.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/al-rawiya.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/al-rawiya.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}