This photographic series was created in the village of Kizimkazi, in southern Zanzibar — a quiet exploration through portraits of people: children, women, and men, lit only by natural light and coloured by the palette of the tropical landscape.
The intention was never to capture the “exotic,” nor to explain the place. I was not interested in picturesque clichés, but in the silent strength carried in people’s expressions. The pauses between glances. A quiet joy. An unadorned melancholy. A dignity that is not performed, but simply present — discreet, steady, real.
The faces in these portraits ask for no interpretation. They do not offer themselves for narration, nor do they claim roles. They simply ask to be seen. Without distance. Without filters. Without the impulse to possess or to understand.
This project does not attempt to represent Zanzibar. It does not seek to define it or speak on its behalf. It is merely a moment of shared presence — a gaze that meets another not to analyse it, but to stand beside it.
A silent dialogue between the photographer and the person in front of the lens.
A meeting that, without words, says: I see you.
M.K