The opinions expressed in this essay are the author’s own.
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About the PhotographerBorn in 1996, Issam Larkat is a self-taught Algerian photographer with a license in sociology from the university of his hometown Relizane. He developed his visual language through his love for cinema, capturing a mix of his background with what he sees and lives daily inside different cities of his country. He considers photography to be a medium to peacefully fight the injustice of the modern world and give a voice to unheard important causes. He has had exhibitions in Switzerland, Germany, Indonesia, Lagos, and Nigeria. |
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This project focuses subjectively on the youth of Relizane, a small town in the west of Algeria with nothing in it for the youth to do but to sit on the streets and develop various philosophies about life and self-centered mentalities. Most of the youth inside Algerian small cities seems to know each other whether in direct relations or through common friends, yet everybody seems to feel like strangers to each other. Everybody wants to leave their towns, or even the country, but no one can really get out. They feel abandoned and excluded from what is happening in the world.
When they arrive in Algeria, the first thing a lot of foreigners like to state is how claustrophobic the country is to them, and how strange the feeling they sense about it.
Nobody speaks about pessimism, nihilism, Communism negativity, and all of these taboo words in the country, while they are the routines and daily life of the youth inside Algeria.
But when you look at this project in a larger sense, it is an entirely contemporary look at the Algerian youth that represent more than 70% of the population, living their daily lives of unemployment. They have foggy futures, and it’s obvious to the local citizens of the country that they are living under a dictatorship.
The government, the official authorities, and the media have been repressing the truth, broadcasting fake news about the will and needs of these youngsters and the Algerian people in general, and taking the country to the darker corners that normal humans cannot endure mentally.
When they arrive in Algeria, the first thing a lot of foreigners like to state is how claustrophobic the country is to them, and how strange the feeling they sense about it.
Nobody speaks about pessimism, nihilism, Communism negativity, and all of these taboo words in the country, while they are the routines and daily life of the youth inside Algeria.
But when you look at this project in a larger sense, it is an entirely contemporary look at the Algerian youth that represent more than 70% of the population, living their daily lives of unemployment. They have foggy futures, and it’s obvious to the local citizens of the country that they are living under a dictatorship.
The government, the official authorities, and the media have been repressing the truth, broadcasting fake news about the will and needs of these youngsters and the Algerian people in general, and taking the country to the darker corners that normal humans cannot endure mentally.
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