THIS SURVIVOR THOUGH by Sarah Ahmed

#THIS _SURVIVOR _THOUGH.JPG Sarah Ahmed

PUBLISHED & DESIGNED BY JAFFAT EL AQLAM THIS SURVIVOR THOUGH © 2016 BY SARAH AHMED COVER PHOTO © 2016 SARAH AHMED ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. NO PART OF THIS ZINE MAY BE REPRODUCED WITHOUT THE PUBLISHER’S WRITTEN PERMISSION, EXCEPT FOR BRIEF QUOTATIONS FOR REVIEWS. Ed. 4, 2017 SARAH AHMED // WRITER, PHOTOGRAPHER, FOUNDER & CURATOR AMNA SAIF // EDITOR DEENA RASHID // EDITOR

DEDICATION for all the unconditionally kind humans, thank you.

“Did you hear about the rose that grew from a crack in the concrete?

Proving nature’s law is wrong it learned to walk with out having feet.

Funny it seems, but by keeping its dreams, it learned to breathe fresh air.

Long live the rose that grew from concrete when no one else ever cared.”

TUPAC SHAKOUR

“this human is weirding me out. do we smile until it leaves? too awkward� whispered one leaf to another.

human: PUTTING UP WITH YOUR HUMANLY CRAP BUT STILL LIVING. SURVIVING. GORGEOUSLY TOO.

“human, what do you think of our rad experiment??? we’re going for tiny path made of -leaves rustle- us”

“what kind of question is that? of course we love it here. do you wake up/sleep to the freshest smell of afghani bread? yeah, didn’t think so.”

human: they didn’t say much, but i saw another fellow human watering them at 1 pm.

// human who took this photo was quite overwhelmed and spent 5 minutes staring at it before getting to ask the survivors any questions. //

“we wanted to start a post-rock band but yeah, we’re plants. not a lot of plant-friendly instruments, sadly. that’s all you need to know about us, human. please go away, we’re flirting with mr. sunshine and you’re blocking our view.”

“WE REALLY LIKE IT HERE. YOUR KIND VISITS US EARLY MORNING AND DRINK TEA OR SMOKE CIGS AND TALK ABOUT LIFE AND MAKE CONNECTIONS AND WE GET TO WITNESS THIS EVERY DAY AND IT’S BEAUTIFUL. YOUR KIND IS BEAUTIFUL!”

“we love our job. we protect the grocery store by being huge and intimidating. can you please tell us we look intimidating? a purpose to existing on this spot would be nice for a change�

“it has been a while since i’ve last seen a human.. hey, where are you going? come back.. please take me with you”

“HI HI HUMAN. WE ARE SURVIVING. WE GET WATER-ISH SUPPLY. SOMETIMES. OK, IT’S YOUR CRAPPY WATER. BUT IT’S OK. IF WE CAN MAKE IT WITH CRAPPY WATER, YOU DEFINITLY CAN MAKE IT THROUGH ANYTHING.”

“heyheyHEYHEY PSST, HUMAN. pass me that cigarette please....what? just cause i’m a plant, doesn’t mean i don’t smoke. PASS IT!”

as a collective, “heyyyyyyyy human. we’re our fav shade of green. we’re doing this self love thing & it has been amazing. have a nice day!”

“human, keep moving. not today, with your kind�

“it’s a miracle to still exist. look at how many cars passed by here. it’s a rush (sometimes) but absolutely terrifying most of the time.”

“well, we had this metal thing for water but weird stuff kept falling into it and now it’s just a metal thing of weird things. ew, some feathers too. we don’t like birds”

“your kind needs to just stop dumping their cigs on us. if you’re not sharing, then we definitely don’t want it”

“HAVE A RAD YEAR, HUMAN. WE WERE EXPECTING YOU, SO WE DID SOME GRAFFITI AND COULDN’T FINISH IT. THIS SWIRL TOOK US MONTHS.”

#THIS SURVIVOR THOUGH

BY OTHER HUMANS

@maiifail

@nettiola

@joharam

@nettiola

@zeedrgnt @zeedrgnt

@zeedrgnt

@zeedrgnt

@joharam

@hakovasa

Beautiful humans from different parts of this globe who used the tag on instagram. Thank you!

If you come across any survivors, use the tag #thissurvivorthough on instagram.

HAVE YOU NOTICED ANY SURVIVORS LATELY? TAKE A PHOTO, PRINT AND PASTE IT HERE. WRITE A CAPTION BELOW. TAG IT WITH: #THISSURVIVORTHOUGH

MY PRESSED FLOWERS & LEAVES.

ABOUT SARAH AHMED Sarah Ahmed is a 24 year old unemployed Networking & Security graduate. When she’s not panicking about self-made deadlines, she constantly takes up new hobbies because she enjoys the thrill that comes with learning new things.

She really likes plants, listening to what her family calls “aliens’ music”, watercolors and experimenting with glitch art.

**** twitter: glitchedplant instagram: glitchedplant website: glitchedplant.com

A B O U T J A F FAT E L A Q L A M Jaffat El Aqlam is an e-magazine that celebrates Middle Eastern artists, writers, musicians and creatives. Our goal is to be an independent publishing house that publishes work from MENA and by MENA humans who live abroad, while simultaneously creating a haven for content to be published in the world wiLD web.

**** website: jaffatelaqlam.com twitter: jaffatelaqlam instagram: jaffatelaqlam yo@jaffatelaqlam.com