The Longing Of The Stranger Whose Path Has Been Broken (2018-ongoing) is a personal project in which I reconnect to my roots and work collaboratively with the Sinai Bedouin community to explore the notion of belonging and the interconnectedness of people and land. The project focuses on the process of finding and seeking the meaning of belonging cited through the Bedouin community of St. Catherine, South Sinai, Egypt. The community are participants in the creative process. Commentating on the photographic work using embroidery, poetry, sound and storytelling. The final outcome of the project is a complementary collection of photographs, written content, embroidery and multimedia. The project attempts to understand the layers of an identity and the intertwined connections between people and land which defines the notion of belonging. In doing so, the project aims to raise questions and create a dialogue on the meaning of identity and the search for belonging. I believe it’s a common human emotion to seek a definition of one’s identity, yet its complexity is often ignored, creating linear labels and othering. With this dialogue I’m building a bridge between the voices of the Bedouin community and western audiences who have long seen the Bedouins and many other indigenous communities through a linear and romanticized gaze. I’m working with the Jebeleya tribe, who’ve been inhabiting the region for more than 1400 years. The community has survived wars, colonialism, drought and pandemics. They are in perpetual struggle with the authorities, struggling for their civil rights and contend with stigma and stereotyping for staying in their lands. Throughout it all, they remain the keepers of the land - protecting it from harm as it provided them with its blessings in return. This project has been my opportunity to process my Bedouin ancestry and the Sinai land. It’s this interconnectedness which survived in my blood and drew me back to this land to find my way home.