Fazal Sheikh

Displaced from their home, a mother and daughter are photographed in front of a refugee encampment. Refugees flocked to Lokichoggio during Sudan’s civil wars, which initially stemmed from conflict when Christian and Indigenous groups sought autonomy from the majority-Muslim government.

Like his subjects here, photographer Fazal Sheikh was also shaped by migration. His Muslim grandfather fled northern India during Partition in 1947 and resettled in Kenya, where the photographer’s father is from. Born in New York, Sheikh does not identify as Muslim, but values parts of the faith and culture that construct his perspective.

These refugees were photographed in a Kenyan camp after they fled the violent civil war in their native Sudan. Avoiding the sensationalism that often characterizes similar images by journalists, Sheikh’s photo emphasizes the humanity and dignity of the women, who confidently meet the artist’s gaze and are identified by name in the work’s title.

Seeing his photography as a means of human-rights activism, Sheikh travels around the world producing images that highlight the physical and emotional toll of the refugee’s life. In advance of creating the pictures, he spends days in the camps getting to know the people and their challenges. The slowness of working with a large-format Polaroid camera allows time for the process to become a collaborative one.