Tamara Abdul Hadi is an independent photographer born to Iraqi parents in the United Arab Emirates and raised in Montreal, Canada. Abdul Hadi's work explores the complexity and idiosyncrasy of minority communities that are often subjected to stereotypes and under-representation interchangeably. Her work also touches on ideas of masculinity and self-representation and has been successfully published in The New York Times, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, VICE, etc.
Along with being a photographer, Tamara is also an educator who has given photography workshops in Palestine, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, the UAE, Kuwait, and Tunisia. Back In 2016, Tamara, along with her collective Rawiya, presented a documentary photography storytelling workshop in Gaza.
Bored Panda reached out to the photographer to find out more.
"I am an Iraqi photographer whose work is concerned with the historic and contemporary representation of my culture, in its diversity. Photography allows me to express, question, and be curious."
More info: Instagram | tamarabdulhadi.com
#1
Buffalo Child.
Nihaya, around 10 years old (they often don't know their exact ages here) sits on her family's buffalo at sunrise in the Marshes. I spent the night in Nihaya's family's reed house and woke up to the young women of the family milking the buffalos along with their father and brothers.
Report
31points
#5
2009/2015.
The cemetery of Bab il Nasr in Cairo has been home to hundreds of families living among their deceased ancestors for the past 60 years. This sprawling cemetery is located in central Cairo, near the Imam Hussein Mosque. 'This is a cemetery of the living', says Mohammed Abdel Lateef. He lives with 9 other family members in their family's section of the graveyard. Mohammed, in his thirties, and his siblings, Hussien, Ahmed, and Ahlam, were born here.
"This has been my home since 1966," says Haj Abdel Lateef, Mohammed's father, and the family's patriarch. He and his wife Atiyat have raised 5 children here. They went to schools nearby, work in the area, and now have children of their own.
Report
23points
#6
Banin, around 10 years old (they often don't know their exact ages here), sits on her favorite buffalo near her home in the Iraqi Marshlands. Banin was a very high spirited young lady who took me around, introducing me to her many family members.
Report
23points
#7
2009/2015.
The cemetery of Bab il Nasr in Cairo has been home to hundreds of families living among their deceased ancestors for the past 60 years. This sprawling cemetery is located in central Cairo, near the Imam Hussein Mosque. 'This is a cemetery of the living', says Mohammed Abdel Lateef. He lives with 9 other family members in their family's section of the graveyard. Mohammed, in his thirties, and his siblings, Hussien, Ahmed, and Ahlam, were born here.
"This has been my home since 1966," says Haj Abdel Lateef, Mohammed's father, and the family's patriarch. He and his wife Atiyat have raised 5 children here. They went to schools nearby, work in the area, and now have children of their own.
Report
19points
#8
Between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, in what was once the center of ancient Mesopotamia, lies an area of wetland known as al-ahwar of southern Iraq (the Marshes). It was on this spot, between the 4th and 3rd millennium BCE, that Sumerians built their houses from reeds native to the marshlands, an ancient architectural practice still followed today. Far more recently, in the 1950s, the Iraqi government started draining the lands to support the extraction of a newly-discovered natural resource: oil.
The social and political life of the area changed again a few short decades later, in the 1980s and 1990s when Saddam Hussein further drained the lands as a way to prevent domestic rebels from seeking sanctuary there, and as punishment for anti-government activities supported by the area’s inhabitants. After the US- and UK-led invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003, and the removal of the former regime, comprehensive efforts to repair the marshes and its ecosystem were initiated in earnest with the hope of restoring everyday life for the area’s people, the mi’dan. These images are part of series visualizing the people of the contemporary Iraqi Marshes.
Report
18points
#9
2009/2015.
The cemetery of Bab il Nasr in Cairo has been home to hundreds of families living among their deceased ancestors for the past 60 years. This sprawling cemetery is located in central Cairo, near the Imam Hussein Mosque. 'This is a cemetery of the living', says Mohammed Abdel Lateef. He lives with 9 other family members in their family's section of the graveyard. Mohammed, in his thirties, and his siblings, Hussien, Ahmed, and Ahlam, were born here.
"This has been my home since 1966," says Haj Abdel Lateef, Mohammed's father, and the family's patriarch. He and his wife Atiyat have raised 5 children here. They went to schools nearby, work in the area, and now have children of their own.
Report
17points
#10
Fade to Black is a portrait series documenting African asylum seekers' barbershop culture in South Tel Aviv. These Muslim and Christian Sudanese, Eritrean and Ethiopian refugees have made the Levinsky Park neighborhood home, where they run barbershops, restaurants, and clothing stores. Finding their communities in the midst of being discriminated against systemically by their 'chosen home'.
This series was born out of an appreciation for their personal style and their self-expression through their fashion and hairstyles. From 2006-2012, a large influx of African asylum seekers arrived in Israel, with many having been trafficked through the Sinai Peninsula. Currently, about 38,000 of them are facing deportation.
This series was born out of an appreciation for their personal style and their self-expression through their fashion and hairstyles. From 2006-2012, a large influx of African asylum seekers arrived in Israel, with many having been trafficked through the Sinai Peninsula. Currently, about 38,000 of them are facing deportation.
Report
16points
#12
Meet Mohammad. He is a 22-year-old Syrian refugee currently in Lebanon. Mohammad suffers from the muscle disease myopathy, and as time goes by, he will slowly lose functionality in all his limbs. Mohammad and 3 of his siblings all suffer from the disease.
In this photo, Mohamad does one of his favorite things, sitting in the sunshine outside his home.
Report
14points
#14
This 'war machine graveyard' in Sulimaniyah, Kurdistan -Northern Iraq- is a grim reminder of decades of war in Iraq. Mountains of used missiles, US military tanks, humvees, and other used weaponry fill the landscape.
This landscape speaks volumes as to the result of the destruction, occupation, and violence that this country has witnessed in the last 30 years.
Report
13points
#15
Al Amari, Ramallah.
The lives of people living in marginalized communities can be tremendously underrepresented. Who they are, their lives, and their stories are often undocumented. Do they choose how to represent their own photo? Are they given the option to imagine themselves richly in their own eyes? This project goes beyond the idea of people snapping their own photographs, it is an interactive exercise where people have the ability to control their own image and for once, decide how to represent themselves.
This project was inspired by the Handsworth Self Portrait, Birmingham, 1979.
Report
13points
#16
Meet Mohammad. He just turned 6 years old and like his siblings Bayan (12) and Zamzam (8) he has myopathy. The siblings recently received orthopedic devices that will help with their movement. In this photo, Mohammad tries his out at home.
Report
13points
#17
Between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, in what was once the center of ancient Mesopotamia, lies an area of wetland known as al-ahwar of southern Iraq (the Marshes). It was on this spot, between the 4th and 3rd millennium BCE, that Sumerians built their houses from reeds native to the marshlands, an ancient architectural practice still followed today. Far more recently, in the 1950s, the Iraqi government started draining the lands to support the extraction of a newly-discovered natural resource: oil.
The social and political life of the area changed again a few short decades later, in the 1980s and 1990s when Saddam Hussein further drained the lands as a way to prevent domestic rebels from seeking sanctuary there, and as punishment for anti-government activities supported by the area’s inhabitants. After the US- and UK-led invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003, and the removal of the former regime, comprehensive efforts to repair the marshes and its ecosystem were initiated in earnest with the hope of restoring everyday life for the area’s people, the mi’dan. These images are part of series visualizing the people of the contemporary Iraqi Marshes.
Report
12points
#19
Zahra and Mohamad, along with their parents, waiting to be picked up and taken to their weekly physiotherapy sessions.
Report
12points
#20
2009-2014.
Started in 2009, this portrait series is part of a large body of work capturing semi-nude Arab men of diverse backgrounds.
The conceptual aim of this portrait series is two-fold: Trying to uncover and break the stereotypes placed upon the Arab male, and providing an alternative visual representation of that identity. Secondly, it is a celebration of their sensual beauty, an unexplored aspect of the identity of the contemporary Arab man, on the cusp of change in a society that reveres an out-dated form of hyper-masculinity.
Started in 2009, this portrait series is part of a large body of work capturing semi-nude Arab men of diverse backgrounds.
The conceptual aim of this portrait series is two-fold: Trying to uncover and break the stereotypes placed upon the Arab male, and providing an alternative visual representation of that identity. Secondly, it is a celebration of their sensual beauty, an unexplored aspect of the identity of the contemporary Arab man, on the cusp of change in a society that reveres an out-dated form of hyper-masculinity.
Report
11points