Nadira Amrani

Rep Your Culture

I have always been fascinated by faces. As someone who tells stories through film and photography for a living, I often wonder how much of our expressions is linked to our past, our character, the way society views us and the way we want to be viewed.

Years ago, I found myself drawn to the work of Marc Garanger’s project : a photography series of Berber women during the Algerian War in the 1960s. The portraits seemed so magical when the series. I remember my dad telling me that some of these women believed that when you took their photograph, you stole part of their soul. Looking back, it was an early lesson in understanding just how important identity is in portraiture.