The Wind that Shakes Dreams explores the lives and the surroundings of the people residing in Kahwet El Rih, a village in the southwest of Algiers, Algeria. An unusually high number of the inhabitants suffer from severe eyesight problems, causing varying levels of blindness for many. Some say blindness is a genetically transmissible disease, while others believe it is caused by the tiny thorns of the barbary figs surrounding the village flying in the air.
“Since I started this project, I have been interrogating myself about how popular culture depicts the existence of people with distorted vision, and inevitably I found myself asking similar questions, do they dream while sleeping? Do they have a sixth sense? Do their other senses become sharper?” says the photographer.
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Fethi Sahraoui is an Algerian photographer whose work focuses on the social landscape. He considers his photography projects as an attempt to interact with the environment he lives in.
For the first time, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Joop Swart Masterclass took place online over a period of four months, and 24 participants and eight masters were selected to make the program more inclusive. The educational experience of the Joop Swart Masterclass is based on an assignment to produce a photo essay around a given theme. This year the theme was ‘Reset’.
