Enter a New Generation

Two cousins came from the US to visit Jordan. This is a typical story of families looking for a better life coming back to the place they originally called home. Yahya and Shurouq are some of the older cousins I have. They both now have three children each. Shurouq’s boys came to Jordan for the first time, this was Shurouq’s first time after getting married and living in Jordan for about a year before she moved to San Diego. I thought it was important to take photos of her kids when they came and visited for half an hour. Her mother-in-law just had her first chemotherapy session and was feeling very tired, so she couldn’t stay long.

Imtithal’s home remains to be a place of reunion and family. To see her children in the same exact space — with some things that are exactly in the place they were 20+ years ago — was something I found to be worth documenting.

I would consider Shurouq to be the closest thing I have to a big sister. She has always been able to share her experience with me earnestly, and has shown me, although from afar, the great dedication it takes to have her children learn their own heritage, their language and religion, and to be outdoors as much as possible.

I am finding black and white to really be the best medium to show my work. I will experiment more with black and white with my current project, Passing Car and see how that affects my communication through my photos.