This year at the Beyond Borders International Festival we are thrilled to welcome once again photographer and storyteller Thana Faroq. A frequent collaborator with international organisations such as Oxfam, Care and the British Council, she tells the stories of women, children and internally displaced people in Yemen and beyond. Her most recent work titled The Passport contains photographs and stories of stateless people, refugees and asylum seekers from across the globe and will be exhibited as part of our Walled Garden Arts and Music Programme on August 25 and 26.

In The Passport, Faroqfocuses on the idea of a passport being a document that for some represents freedom, national identity and pride, yet for others symbolises a barrier to freedom of movement, restricting their opportunities and progress. Through concentrating on the passport as a dichotomous symbol of both opportunity and oppression, she tells the story of those who were not born in the “lucky borders”, as she calls them.

The Passport is a collection of testimonies from stateless people, refugees and asylum seekers for whom this piece of documentation limits the value placed on them by international society.

Faroq’s work is captivating as she gives voices to the voiceless by incorporating handwritten letters sent to her by her subjects, who originate from Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Somalia. Through this intimacy between artist and subject, she aims to create art from suffering and draw attention to those who are essentially invisible in our society.

As the US Supreme Court recently upheld the Trump Administration’s ban for those travelling from certain Muslim-majority countries, Faroq’s work provides a platform to reflect on the individuals whose freedom of movement – and opportunity – has been severely limited by these contemporary political developments.

Faroq recently spoke to us about her inspirations for The Passport and why this project is so vital in order to change perspectives.

Could you give a brief summary of your background and artistic practice?

I am a documentary photographer and storyteller from Yemen. Currently, I live in the Netherlands. Storytelling has been my tool to put my feelings into words and photographs. And I always seek to have the investigative skills and technical knowledge necessary to advance in the complex and constantly changing the world of visual storytelling and documentary photography. In Yemen, I worked on critical issues related to child marriage and women’s lives in times of conflict. My work examines issues of identity, boundaries, and conflicts. I am also interested in the work of memory and movement. 

What makes photography such a powerful platform for storytelling and how do you feel it gives subjects a voice, as well as reflecting your own identity as a storyteller?

Photography, in my opinion, is an accessible medium. It conveys a language that can be easily interpreted. Our lives are filled with photos online and in print and in a way they become part of us, we all tell stories and social media makes that an obligatory task.

To me photography allows me to negotiate my identity through working with my participants on stories of loss and resilience. They help me define my practice and allow me to visualize the invisible and there is always this tune of a beginning and an end.  In an image, I search for the loudness, for the stillness and most importantly the truth, and these are important aspects of a good story and ultimately this allows a channel for self-expression which is important. Photography as a medium is capable of setting evidence to the unfairness and social injustice and history proved that.

How does art allow an artist to connect with their homeland and express their dreams of hope and peace?

I recall I read a text by the writer and critic Susan Sontag, entitles that when it comes to photography, the photographer could be from anywhere and that his or her beat would be “the world.” Yet when it comes to memory of war and struggle, “the world” becomes local. Concepts of memory and identity are driving motives in my work and art allows me to localize these experiences and create something so universal that others can relate to. Moreover, I’ve seen a lot of great work by artists living in the diaspora, art allows them to cross barriers and create that magical connection between their presence and homelands. In their work, you see a lot of questions arising, nostalgia, lost memories, found memories, and beautiful type of chaos. It becomes a platform for self-discovery, space artists create to identify who they really are and in most cases produce personal reportage that depicts their hopes, struggles, and dreams.

As part of In Memory of Shattered Windows, you describe running to your living room in Yemen with your mother and sister. Your mother is reciting prayers and you describe yourself getting ready to send a Tweet announcing your death. How do you think social media affects the way people respond to violence and conflict?

In the case of Yemen, which I believe is a forgotten crisis, social media is our channel to voice our pain and call for actions. There were so many collective campaigns that started amidst the war and called for humanitarian intervene and ending the violence. It didn’t necessarily end the war, but cultivating empathy here is essential. To me personally, these Tweets meant that I was still alive, that I just had survived a recent bomb, ready to continue the fight again to survive.

As part of our Walled Garden Arts and Music Programme, we are exploring the idea of art as a form of healing. You talk about creating art from a place of suffering after having experienced injustice; do you find then that art is healing or something else?

To be honest, pain is what motivates me as an artist. Pain is a complex feeling; it is not easily captured yet it is not so hard to be recognized. It’s a strength and weakness. It’s beautiful and ugly. It’s gain and loss. It’s a challenging journey that is full of confusions and contradictions. Above all that it becomes a therapeutic process, a place where I try to make sense out of everything and put up with everything went wrong, contain that anger and shelter my frustration in the most creative way possible. The pain won’t necessarily fade away but I guess I reach that moment where it feels somehow peaceful and I love that feeling.

You’ve said before that during this project your subjects were also participants in the creation of the final piece of work. How did you include your subjects and allow them to tell their own stories through this project?

My participants and I have too many things in common. They portray my journey and they reveal the untold about it. Therefore, I’m always keen on giving them the authority to shape the narrative of the project and steer it in their own direction. They choose how to be photographed, the stories they want to reveal, and they contribute to the writings and texts.  

What’s next for The Passport and your work? What did you wish to achieve when you initially began working on it?

This project reflects on freedom and the limitations placed on some people to come and go across walls and boundaries. It aims to visually articulate people’s struggle to leave countries where conditions of violence, war, and aggression are prevalent. It still a work in progress as I still need to cover a lot of aspects on the topic. The ultimate goal is to make a book. I have produced the first dummy copy, but I’m working on finalizing material for the book and seeking publishing opportunities for it.

What are you currently working on?

Besides working on my book, I started a project on digital literacy and refugees in the Netherlands called “My first email.” It’s not only about depicting the endeavour of refugees learning how to use a computer for the first time in their lives but also it’s more about exploring themes of intergradation, the challenges, and aspirations.

Check out The Passport at Beyond Borders International Festival this year and join Thana for a workshop on the power of visual storytelling in the Walled Garden. Find the full programme and buy your tickets here.