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Desert film festival brings home the plight of refugees
The Guardian Weekly
|May 24, 2024
From the outside, Asria Mohamed's tent in a refugee camp in south-west Algeria could be mistaken for a typical nomadic dwelling used by Sahrawis, people from Western Sahara, though it is smaller in size.
Inside is a series of QR codes attached to 19 melhfas, traditional clothing worn by Sahrawi women, that have been stitched to the tent's interior walls, forming a colourful tapestry. Visitors are invited to scan the QR codes to dive into the stories of the women behind each melhfa.
Jaimitna (Our Tent) is a collaborative artistic project, led by Mohamed, to highlight the plight of Sahrawis and their homeland on the northwest coast of Africa, which has been occupied by Morocco since 1976, when Spain's rule over its last foreign territory ended.
"You approach Jaimitna and it's made of a colourful fabric, and you think, 'Oh, it's so beautiful.' But then when you scan the QR codes you will get stories of horror," Mohamed said.
She added: "I asked 19 female human rights defenders from the occupied territory to send me their melhfas.
This story is from the May 24, 2024 edition of The Guardian Weekly.
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