FirstLook: The Sari and the Balloon

On a winter’s afternoon in 2018 in Bogura, Bangladesh, I went out for a walk with my nephew. While walking, I saw a group of toddlers playing with colorful balloons and across from them boys playing cricket. I was struck to see a bright yellow sari hanging to dry in the sun, which really drew me into to the scene. I noticed that one of the toddlers had a yellow balloon in their hand and I thought about the composition. I positioned myself and waited there for about 10 minutes before the yellow balloon got away from the kids and landed in front of me. I clicked a photo on my cell phone just before one of them ran over to pick it up.

When on the street, I am always looking for light, color, and connection. This photograph reminds me of the stages of life, and here with beautiful light and color, I drew a line between the toddlers playing with balloons, the boys playing cricket and a woman’s sari. This is how life goes, in its own way.

—Fatima-Tuj-Johora
@fatimatujjohora
fatimatujjohora.com

Sea of Tears, Garden of Memory

Written by Juliet Highet
Photographs courtesy of Rachid Koraïchi / October Gallery

Moved to memorialize the mostly anonymous people who continue to perish while crossing the Mediterranean Sea from North Africa to Europe, Algerian artist Rachid Koraïchi has opened both an exhibition and a working cemetery.

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Amir Zaki's Sculpture of Skateparks

Written by Brian E. Clark
Photographs courtesy of Amir Zaki

It takes a landscape photographer’s eye to step down into a cement skatepark and turn the lens not on skaters but on the ramps, waves, valleys, bowls and tunnels that are the terrain of the park itself, and it takes a skater’s experience to do so in a way that captivates both art critics and skateboard stars. California native and photographer Amir Zaki grew up skateboarding on streets in suburban Los Angeles, and recently he began visiting skateparks to produce sweeping, large-format images that offer textured meditations on the beauty of light on curved concrete.

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Creatives

FirstLook: My Grandmother’s Tlaba

Photograph by Nada Harib

In my hometown of Yefren, about 200 kilometers southwest of Tripoli, Libya, in the Nafusa mountains, my cousin Mira wears our grandmother’s tlaba (wool garment) to connect to her family roots. The photo is part of a documentary project I started to depict Amazigh women from Libya.

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