Naziha Arebi

Refugee camp in Benghazi for internally displaced Tawergha who are unable to return to their homes since the war.

Early morning mist during Eid on the family farm. My cousin plays with the lamb before its slaughtering. Aside from the religious relevance the young boys are very much involved in this process, for them it feels like a coming of age ritual, an act at the crossroads to manhood.

The ‘Male Gaze’ and ‘Ways of Seeing’ are both ideas studied back in school in sociology, art and also in film studies. These ideas resonate with me these days. Being a women with a camera in a predominantly patriarchal society seems to turn Laura Mulvey’s theory of ‘the male gaze’ on it’s head. On a daily basis confronting the idea of the male gaze with the gaze of my camera, my camera acts as a middleman (or woman!) between me and reality. In some cases instead of me being the one objectified, the camera reflects the notion of the gaze back on them, making some men feel awkward and uneasy.

It is part of my work to make characters feel relaxed and open in front of the camera, male or female, but I heard of an interesting experiment a friends colleague used in her thesis on politics of gender which used this notion of flipping the male gaze. Every time a man looked at her in the street she would stick a camera in his face to see how they enjoyed being objectified. Not something I am about to embark on, but it does highlight the power of the lens and its relationship to gender and the idea of ‘the gaze’.

MAN- Leptis Magna

On a broken plinth the word MAN is all thats left of a longer inscription. Poignant in a land where a small minority, with a loud voice are trying to marginalise women in society, harass them in the street and push them out of decision making roles in the run up to the formation of the constitution. Do these groups forget that women were a monumental part of the initiation of the revolution over two years ago, where they worked equally alongside men in the fight for freedom. 

I’m usually one for capturing human moments, rather than places, but walking around Lepta, in parts, you can feel an ancient culture lurking in the shadows. Fast forward to present day Libya and as one man peers down from a hight sat on the roof of the forum, another man wonders the ruins with two vital Libyan pieces of equipment, an AK47 and an iPad…the mind boggles.

Singer, sewing. Tripoli Medina.

My Trip started grounded on a delayed airplane from Tripoli to Benghazi on the eve of the anniversary of the initiation of the revolution, Libyans were in high spirits. Despite all the warnings, I was heading to Benghazi for the 2nd anniversary of the initiation of the revolution, a day rumoured to be met with a second revolution and imminent threats of disaster. My experience was quite the opposite. Although Libyan, I don’t look particularly Arab and many people in the street were welcoming me and asking me to tell my foreign friends from France, England and America to return to Benghazi, that Benghazi is very sad for how it is portrayed by the outside world and that they wish the mass exodus of foreigners working there to return. I was shown nothing but kindness and hospitality, something that Eastern Libyans are renowned for. It is sad that so many are suffering due to the actions of a small minority who don’t even represent the people of Benghazi. 

I love the East of Libya and I look forward to my next visit, it holds a very special place in my heart.

Fisherman breaking Fast during Ramadan in Sousa, the East of Libya.