Visions from the Western Sahara – exhibition highlight – unknown lives of Saharawi people as part of the Mayors Black History Season
Visions from the Western Sahara – exhibition highlights unknown lives of
Saharawi people as part of the Mayors Black History Season
An exhibition of photography taken by the Saharawi people of the Western
Sahara, a refugee community is being displayed at City Hall, SE1, throughout
the month of October, as part of the Mayor of London’s Black History Season
celebrations. The exhibition is organised by Sandblast.
Sandblast is dedicated to raising awareness through the arts about the
Saharawi people of Western Sahara and their struggle for self-determination.
Close to 200,000 Saharawis have been refugees in the SW Algerian desert for
over 30 years while tens of thousands more live under a repressive occupying
regime in their homeland.
Mayor Ken Livingstone said: ‘Black History Season continues to be an
important period of reflection, development and learning for all Londoners.
The Sandblast exhibition is a welcome addition to the expanded programme of
events and promises to be an enlightening look at the lives of the
Saharwarian people, whose very existence many Londoners may be largely
unaware of.’
Danielle Smith, founding director of Sandblast said: ‘The Saharawis were
given digital cameras and encouraged to take pictures that would send a
message to the outside world about life in the camps and the issues they
face. The project took place shortly after the camps had been hit by
torrential storms, which left fifty thousand people homeless.’
Some of the (first time) photographers chose to document this destruction,
whilst others photographed the defiant celebrations that marked thirty years
of SADR as a state in exile. Other participants looked at the daily lives of
children or the pain of families who had lost relatives in the war.
‘The Sora Project’ in association with Sandblast aims to give young Saharawi
refugees a voice through photography. The images shown in this exhibition
were taken by Omar Dih Bebih, Hadjtna Mohamed Deidi, Hasina Bachir Mohamed,
Amere Abd Samed, Najla Mohamed Lamin Salma, Galia Sidahmed Blaila and Sanea
Muhamed Azat,
The Mayor has supported an extensive programme of arts, culture and
educational events in celebration of London’s Black History. Events take
place across the capital from October 2006, culminating in March 2007