Farewell : A place that remains

A Farewell is an act of parting and departure.In Islamic tradition, the relationship between human beings and the land unfolds across three levels, the highest of which understands the land as a soul. The land my father owned two decades ago holds deep sentimental value for my family.
Over the years, I have returned to it again and again, documenting my visits and the memories formed there: trees that once flourished, beloved animals, and gatherings that brought our family together.

Recently, we learned that the farm would be lost. The news arrived with mixed emotions. I recognize the economic and developmental changes taking place in the region, just as similar shifts reshaped the farms of the Eastern Province in the 1970s. Yet acknowledging this progress does not ease the difficulty of letting go of a place that has shaped so many personal and shared memories.

Photography has grown alongside me throughout this relationship. Some of the photographs I made during those early years were captured on film I never developed; others with my very first camera.

The project emerged from a simple act of preservation: collecting fallen leaves from the trees before the farm was gone. Their fragility and quiet presence became a way of holding onto what remains an archive of touch, memory, and its gradual transformation.