By Javier de Blas in Tindouf, Algeria
Between February and March 2015 I spent a month living with a Sahrawi family in their "haima" in the refugee camps of Tindouf. Every Tuesday, I'm posting here the notes and sketches I made about daily life in the camps.
If there is any local word you don´t understand, please check in Local terminology post.
14/03/2015
Salma invites us for lunch. She is Shabu's friend the girl that I drew in Smara, her wilaya. A girl with good sense of humor. I have the opportunity of being at the preparation of the couscous. Her mother, friends and family sing while working. They explain some of the things to me. The winnowing and other things that I see slip by, their voices are distant as I am concentrating more on the scene than on them. To me it's just beautiful. Right there, in a corridor which has become a chapel of culinary art. Traditional yet incomparable.
I do not eat because gluten disagrees with me. But I just love the process.
The nap is digital. While Salma pampers her brother, the girls are sending WhatsApps and after jotting down the moment I also go to work on the digital part of this project.
I also portrayed Faiti in Smara. She has just arrived at Salma's house and tells me, and she is quite right, that she does not recognized herself in the portrait. So we try again, with tranquillity. I take a photo of her after, just to show her that this time, yes, but I'm not going to show it to you since I do not want anyone to "revalidate" the drawing from photo and it makes me feel as if I am lowering the category.
We take a walk for a while coming across a couple of interesting shops. The Carrefour supermarket and Michelin store in Smara.
Between February and March 2015 I spent a month living with a Sahrawi family in their "haima" in the refugee camps of Tindouf. Every Tuesday, I'm posting here the notes and sketches I made about daily life in the camps.
If there is any local word you don´t understand, please check in Local terminology post.
14/03/2015
Salma invites us for lunch. She is Shabu's friend the girl that I drew in Smara, her wilaya. A girl with good sense of humor. I have the opportunity of being at the preparation of the couscous. Her mother, friends and family sing while working. They explain some of the things to me. The winnowing and other things that I see slip by, their voices are distant as I am concentrating more on the scene than on them. To me it's just beautiful. Right there, in a corridor which has become a chapel of culinary art. Traditional yet incomparable.
I do not eat because gluten disagrees with me. But I just love the process.
The nap is digital. While Salma pampers her brother, the girls are sending WhatsApps and after jotting down the moment I also go to work on the digital part of this project.
I also portrayed Faiti in Smara. She has just arrived at Salma's house and tells me, and she is quite right, that she does not recognized herself in the portrait. So we try again, with tranquillity. I take a photo of her after, just to show her that this time, yes, but I'm not going to show it to you since I do not want anyone to "revalidate" the drawing from photo and it makes me feel as if I am lowering the category.
We take a walk for a while coming across a couple of interesting shops. The Carrefour supermarket and Michelin store in Smara.