Banished from Our City

Aya Albarghathy  |  The Arab Documentary Photography Program  |  2021  |  Libya
In Benghazi, the photographer, an unveiled woman, is a mere passer-by in the streets of her own city. She yearns to get to know the streets intimately but is met with hostility when she is outside, a space regarded as the domain of men. In Tunis, her neighboring country, she can stand in the street, cross the road, walk to the market, or simply daydream, unfettered by her gender. In “Banished from Our City”, the photographer studies her relationship with both cities; one she experiences from behind the windscreen of her car, and the other where she can stroll the streets freely.