Tribe 09

Page 108

PROFILE Images - Courtesy of the artist. Writer - Sumeja Tulic, writer and photographer.

Btihal Remli: Inside Intimate observations, made from afar Some readings of photographs necessitate little or

Take her series Inside in which she documents

no additional context. They presume that the act

how salaat (prayer) transformation every day and

of looking is guided by an informed interest in the

secular places that facilitate trade, transport,

photographed topic, subject, event. This benevolent

and family life into religious spaces. Although

presumption, like most presumptions, falls on its

the title of the series justifies the expectation of

own sword: the uncertainty of the premise. What

a photographer embedded within her subjects,

if the idea used as the basis for the expectation is

photographing from the prayer carpet beneath

not true or sufficient?

those who bow and prostrate to God in the direction of the Kaaba at Mecca. But this is

In her work, Btihal Remli, the German-born

not the case. Inside, actually, is a look from the

photographer of Moroccan origin, circumvents

outside in on a ritual that, although performative,

the dangers of uncertainty with the elegance and

is not a performance. To consciously perform

respect of an observant, critical and pragmatic mind.

prayer in front of a camera is antithetical to its

Remli is unwilling to waste time on considerations

raison d’etre: transcendence into the realm of

that take away from the intimacy or urgency of

the otherworldly and holly.

the situation developing before the lens of her camera. Instead of treading the learned path of

So, if one is to document it without explicit

documentary photography, often a choreography of

permission, one ought to be like Remli: stand

objectivity and didactics for the gaze of the outsider,

behind the curtain, point the camera from the

without fear of being “vague” or “unclear” Remli

opening between walls or in passing, and without

is on a different path, where process prioritizes the

flash. The frame that comes out may not be clear. It

intricacies of her stories­­— be they about dark magic,

may have motion in it as the body may be caught

identity, religion or gender.

by a double-exposure-like effect. What is seen won’t be explicated, but it also won’t be mystified.

Remli’s storytelling can be easily perceived as a negation of the documentary process. Perhaps it

What one sees in Remli’s Inside transcends the

is, but, in dwelling on that one may ignore its more

particulars of the topic. It is a material artifact

substantial and defining quality: its commitment

of immateriality. Unlike reckless and nonchalant

to truth. Remli intends the viewer of her work to

voyeurism, Remli’s work creates a solid ground

know that despite her proximity to the subject, she

between two antonymous realms: the secular

will remain the outsider that she, as a storyteller,

and sacral. The in-between is not a stand-in

inherently is. Remli’s position outside the parameters

for contradiction, but a stance for reflection

of the narrative not only creates the rhythm of the

and inquiry. It is not a way out of a conundrum

photographic sequence but also sets its genre.

but a way in.

108 tribe

Remli’s storytelling can be easily perceived as a negation of the documentary process. Perhaps it is, but, in dwelling on that one may ignore its more substantial and defining quality: its commitment to truth


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