Abdusatar

 — 
July 26, 2023
Featured Image

It is very likely a small room, if a note can be taken from how much is within the frame as a man puts on his coat. There's a rush of light from the un-curtained window, a brash counterpoint to the darkened furnishings—that is, if the deck of TV sets can be described as so. They also appear to indicate a time when he had ample lodgings. Or not. It could be that the small luxury of double screens reminds him of a less cloistered world. Also, is that a hint of a second bed? Are we taking a measure of more than a single life?

— Emmanuel Iduma


“My approach to photography is to focus on people who live in the shadow of life.”

This photograph was taken in Tunis, Tunisia, as part of a story about unseen or invisible people who don't get enough or good credit and recognition of their existence from the community—as doctors, engineers or movie stars or other celebrities—even though their jobs are important to the community. 

Abdusatar is a construction worker I spent a day with trying to document his life at work, home and with his friends, in order to focus on the human side of his daily life.

I see the long jacket which hides the face of Abdusatar as a metaphor for how the community ignores him and other people doing a great job for the community but who the community doesn’t give to in return.

My approach to photography is to focus on people who live in the shadow of life and to document the daily life in my country.

— Abdurrauf Ben Madi


About Abdurrauf Ben Madi

Abdurrauf Ben Madi is freelance photographer born in Tripoli, Libya in 1976. He graduated from college of Arts and Media University of Tripoli. He is co-founder of Everyday Libya, and contributes to Everyday Middle East, and Everyday Africa. Find out more: Instagram / Website.


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