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Dreamlike Photos Reveal the Spiritual and the Comic at Algerian Festivals
Festivals are visual gold mines, no matter the cause for celebration. The more extravagant, the better.
A seasonal festival in Algeria, locally known as waada, offers plenty of dazzling visuals. Yet in “The Cult of Souls,” the photographer Fethi Sahraoui forgoes busy wide shots and opts for the intimate and absurd. His dreamlike images almost convey a hushed scene, as if they were taken backstage where not much is happening.
Mr. Sahraoui, 25, is a self-taught documentary photographer from northwestern Algeria whose work has been shown at the Arab World Institute in France and at the Museum of Modern Art in Algiers. One of his earlier projects, “Escaping the Heatwave,” is currently on view at Photoville in Brooklyn.
He grew up visiting those seasonal festivals with his family. They’re organized to celebrate Muslim saints and usually take place on weekends during the fall, which coincides with grape harvesting season. Every year, Mr. Sahraoui said, they bring welcome amusement to sleepy Algerian villages.
His memories of the joyous atmosphere and traditional dancing inspired him to create a photo series ever since he started shooting five years ago. The essay finally came together when he applied for the Arab Documentary Photography Program. Over the course of one season, Mr. Sahraoui visited 21 festivals in and around his hometown, Mascara.
What he finds most intriguing is how the events transform their surroundings. “The rural areas where the celebrations take place are like a no-man’s-land in the morning, and within a few hours, crowds of visitors start rushing the place,” he said in an email.
Waada is derived from the word “promise” — a promise that locals will celebrate their devotion — and the festival generally picks up after al asr, or afternoon, prayers. A large circle forms where musicians play complex polyrhythms on bendir frame drums in the style of gasba music, a genre named after the flutelike instrument.
“It can be considered as the equivalent of folk music here in the United States,” Mr. Sahraoui said. He adds that it has seen so many changes over the years, and has become what’s now known as Raï. “But the local bands that we find in those rural celebrations are keeping it as authentic as possible.”
As traditional sounds fill the air, a group of Hamdawa devotees perform ceremonial dances. They follow a Sufi sect, known as Aissawa in neighboring regions, that emphasizes spiritual music accompanied by dances that put participants in a mystical trance.
Mr. Sahraoui processed his work in monochrome to minimize the harshness of the light. As a result, the sky nearly bleeds into the desert landscape. The men’s white and beige djellabas pop next to the darkness of their horses. The beaming sun produces sharply defined shadows.
A particularly poetic image shows a young girl looking at a Hamdawa devotee who had fainted after going into a trance. Both of them take up the foreground — a scene within a scene — while a crowd of old and young men stand behind them.
These celebrations often feature fantasia, a traditional performance in the Maghreb where synchronized cavaliers charge in a straight line and simultaneously fire shots in the air. Yet we don’t see a neat row of riders with their muskets in hand.
In another lighthearted shot, a handful of mounted cavaliers prepare for a performance. The photo could have been likened to a majestic painting if it weren’t for a boy doing a handstand, his foot smack dab in the middle of the frame.
After meeting Mr. Sahraoui at Photoville, I had to ask: Where are the women?
“Ninety-five percent of people who go to those celebrations are from rural areas,” he explained. The crowd is mostly men, which he attributed to local culture. Some women take part, but they’re usually “backstage,” preparing free food for the crowds.
Mr. Sahraoui has a lot going on back home. He recently received a master’s degree in American civilization from the University of Mascara; he’s searching for funding for his first photo book, to be published with La Chambre Claire in Algiers; and soon he’ll embark on a road trip with the 220 Collective for a documentary project.
Not to mention, “The Cult of Souls” is still in progress.
“I see it as a book more than as an exhibition,” Mr. Sahraoui said. “But you know, everything will come at the right time.”
Follow @nytimesphoto on Twitter. Fethi Sahraoui is also on Instagram. You can also find Lens on Facebook and Instagram.
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