“Get in, loser. We’re going protesting.”
Cover photo by @osmsiddiqi_photo .
I was asked why I haven’t carried my camera to these protests and honestly it’s because I find it hard to protest and witness as a photojournalist. I don’t know how to do both because I don’t know how to be impartial in this. So I watch the ones who know how to be both do what I haven’t been able.
This is 10 seconds of the many hours I’ve spent at the protests these last two weeks. I have come out with my heart full of love for this country and every part of me aching for justice (or am I just old). Also with one less working eye but that’s a story for another day.
The people of this country are hurting. We have been abducted, tear-gassed, beaten, arrested, m*rdered, and labeled treasonous for holding our government accountable for its crimes, for asking the people elected to represent us to #rejectfinancebill2024.
Yet there is still hope. We will not tire. The people have met fear and violence with love. An entire population is getting a civic education lesson. They say knowledge is freedom. And freedom is coming.
For the most part, I have a pretty standard assignment uniform: black pants, black/white/olive shirt, black boots. Reflecting on where my feet have gone these last few months and I’m loving the variety. They’ve walked through forests, on beaches, in cities and villages all over this country.
Muslims believe that on the Day of Judgement, our limbs will testify for/against us.
“This day We seal up their mouths, and their hands speak out to Us and their feet bear witness as to what they used to earn/do.” (Quran 36:65)
Sometimes, as is the nature of my work, I don’t exactly know where I’ll end up. I’m grateful that I can remember two instances in five years of being a professional photographer where I regretted taking my feet.
Imagine if we treated our limbs as conscious beings? Would it change how we move through this life? Would we speak kindly so as to not wrong our own tongues? Would we give more generously to honor our own hands?
What would you do differently/the same if you were made accountable to your own body?
#onassignment #blackphotographers #africanwomenphotograph #quranreflections
Earth Day! Here are some of my favorite photos taken in Kenya and beyond. Do rate your favorites in the comments. 🫰🏾
Not so fun fact: W ar is one of the biggest sources of carbon emissions on the planet.
The bom bardment of Gaza by the occupation, which we can’t talk about without being censored on this hell app, emitted 281,000 metric tones of carbon just within the first two months. The emissions exceeded the annual carbon footprint of more than 20 of the world’s most climate-vulnerable nations. It has been almost 7 months now.
While you’re celebrating this beautiful planet, remember that w ar deepens the climate crisis and that calling for a ceasefire is part of climate action. ❤️
#climateactionnow #earthday2024 #climatejustice
Kenya has a femicide problem. According to an analysis carried out by the Africa Data Hub, more than 500 women have been victims of femicide in Kenya between 2016 and 2024. Most of these don’t make the news.
@usikimye_ , which runs a helpline for female survivors of violence, says it receives more than 150 calls daily, including from people who refer to a third party suffering abuse.
Last year, I got to accompany @raphael_malkin on a reportage about @tirops_angels , an organization formed in honor of Agnes Tirop who was m*rdered in 2021 five weeks after setting a 10km road race world record. Her husband, the only suspect in the case, is currently out on bail.
Pictured here are the founders of Tirop’s Angels (tagged) as well as Agnes Tirop’s siblings (slides 5-6) and a beneficiary of the organization, Millicent Songoka (slide 8-9).
If you’d like to read the article, it’s in the bio. It’s also in French so… hit that translate button on your browser if you need it.
#onassignment #StopKillingUs #athleticskenya
I realize I have a backlog of work I haven’t posted on here (or most importantly on my website) for the last 2 years. So here is my attempt at looking like a working photographer.
I’m somewhat better at updating my @linktr.ee so take a gander at this and other stories I’ve worked on. Note that this isn’t all the work but a curated list of the kind of work I enjoy and would like to attract.
#manifesting #onassignment #climatechange
Eid after Ramadan means the return of regular caffeine habits. Which reminded me of the story I was able to photograph for this time last year written by Somini Sengupta.
“First the bad news. The two types of coffee that most of us drink — Arabica and robusta — are at grave risk in the era of climate change.
Now the good news. Farmers in one of Africa’s biggest coffee exporting countries are growing a whole other variety that better withstands the heat, drought and disease supersized by global warming.
For years, they’ve just been mixing it into bags of low-priced robusta. This year, they’re trying to sell it to the world under its own true name: Liberica excelsa.
“Even if there’s too much heat, it does fine,” said Golooba John, a coffee farmer near the town of Zirobwe in central Uganda (slide 3-5). For the past several years, as his robusta trees have succumbed to pests and disease, he has replaced them with Liberica trees. On his six acres Mr. John now has just 50 robustas, and 1,000 Libericas.”
Link in bio to read this and other climate related stories I’ve worked on. 🤎
#eidmubarak #eid2024 #ramadan #coffeelovers #climateaction
Q1. Some work. Some play. Fully grateful.
Recognizing as always the privilege of being able to struggle in private, to go to a functioning hospital, to pray for and bury my loved ones in secure graves. The privilege to actually fast from food in Ramadan and to pray in congregation peacefully. What a life. Alhamdulillah.
New year, new hobby. In an effort to connect more with the world around us and how our food is produced, I have decided my next chapter is beekeeping. I think of it as an extension of my artistic practice. Bees are artists. They paint our environment—the landscape their canvas, flowering plants their pigments, their foraging behavior the brushstrokes. To be in their presence is to learn from master artists. Divinely guided.
Anyway send me all the beekeeping content you come across!
Shout out to @jasonruno for the continual training and to my brother, @fruitfulfarmer , for sharing his love of farming with us.
#beekeepers #blackbeekeepers #womenbeekeepers
“Hurry to prayer. Hurry to success.”
October 29, 2023. Women make their way to asr prayer at the Prophet’s mosque in Medina.
While our hearts weep and our souls crave solace, it is important to remember that our Creator is Peace, the Giver of victory, and the Opener of doors.
Reposted caption from @travelandleisure . Thank you to @skyesenterfeit for the assignment.
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"As a Black American, I've always been fascinated by the continent of Africa," writes Tayari Jones, noting that interest is more about the people, rather than animals. "How, then, did I find myself exploring the national parks of Zambia outfitted in khaki, binoculars and camera in hand, reveling in the majesty of its flora and fauna?"
Read Jones' piece, "As a Black American Who Had Never Been On Safari, I Had Doubts - but a Trip to Zambia Changed My Mind," at the link in bio.
Outtakes.
You can’t do a story on agriculture and climate change in Malawi without maize.
“In Malawi, maize production has been battered by droughts, cyclones, rising temperatures and erratic rains. Across southern Africa, climate shocks have dampened maize yields already, and if temperatures continue to rise, yields are projected to decline further.”
Photographed here is Gloria Peter. Like many Malawians, she consumes nsima, the staple food made from cornmeal, daily.
Head on over to @nytimes to read @sominisengupta ’s article about how climate-vulnerable farmers in Malawi are coming up with ways to adapt.
#climateemergency #climatejustice #climateaction #reportagespotlight #farmlife
