Parallel Worlds

This an ongoing project to document people's lives on both ends of the Nile River; in "Bahir Dar" in Ethiopia where the Blue Nile begins and in "Rosetta" in Egypt where it reaches its final destination ending at the Mediterranean sea. Despite the long distance that separates these 2 places, there are many striking similarities between the two societies. The only logic connection between them was that mysterious river that starts as a profoundly Christian river and ends as a profoundly Muslim river. A river that had always been a transition and a connection between Africa and the ancient Egyptian and Roman civilizations, then the Arab and Muslim world. The project focuses on two main families, the family of Mr. Rizk in Rosetta (Egypt) and the family of Mr. Indalo in "Bahir Dar" (Ethiopia). I tried to present my subjects in a dignifying way, not focusing on their poverty and struggle, but rather I tried to show their human side and emphasizing the idea of this hidden connection between them. Amid the political instability and dispute between Egypt and Ethiopia regarding the water of the Nile and the planned "Renaissance" dam that is being built currently in Ethiopia, this project comes also as a trial to draw attention to our common "human identity" shown in these two groups of people who live peacefully on both sides of the dispute.