PROFILE Images - Courtesy of the artist. Writer - Sumeja Tulic, writer and photographer.
Btihal Remli: Inside Intimate observations, made from afar Some readings of photographs necessitate little or
Take her series Inside in which she documents
no additional context. They presume that the act
how salaat (prayer) transformation every day and
of looking is guided by an informed interest in the
secular places that facilitate trade, transport,
photographed topic, subject, event. This benevolent
and family life into religious spaces. Although
presumption, like most presumptions, falls on its
the title of the series justifies the expectation of
own sword: the uncertainty of the premise. What
a photographer embedded within her subjects,
if the idea used as the basis for the expectation is
photographing from the prayer carpet beneath
not true or sufficient?
those who bow and prostrate to God in the direction of the Kaaba at Mecca. But this is
In her work, Btihal Remli, the German-born
not the case. Inside, actually, is a look from the
photographer of Moroccan origin, circumvents
outside in on a ritual that, although performative,
the dangers of uncertainty with the elegance and
is not a performance. To consciously perform
respect of an observant, critical and pragmatic mind.
prayer in front of a camera is antithetical to its
Remli is unwilling to waste time on considerations
raison d’etre: transcendence into the realm of
that take away from the intimacy or urgency of
the otherworldly and holly.
the situation developing before the lens of her camera. Instead of treading the learned path of
So, if one is to document it without explicit
documentary photography, often a choreography of
permission, one ought to be like Remli: stand
objectivity and didactics for the gaze of the outsider,
behind the curtain, point the camera from the
without fear of being “vague” or “unclear” Remli
opening between walls or in passing, and without
is on a different path, where process prioritizes the
flash. The frame that comes out may not be clear. It
intricacies of her stories— be they about dark magic,
may have motion in it as the body may be caught
identity, religion or gender.
by a double-exposure-like effect. What is seen won’t be explicated, but it also won’t be mystified.
Remli’s storytelling can be easily perceived as a negation of the documentary process. Perhaps it
What one sees in Remli’s Inside transcends the
is, but, in dwelling on that one may ignore its more
particulars of the topic. It is a material artifact
substantial and defining quality: its commitment
of immateriality. Unlike reckless and nonchalant
to truth. Remli intends the viewer of her work to
voyeurism, Remli’s work creates a solid ground
know that despite her proximity to the subject, she
between two antonymous realms: the secular
will remain the outsider that she, as a storyteller,
and sacral. The in-between is not a stand-in
inherently is. Remli’s position outside the parameters
for contradiction, but a stance for reflection
of the narrative not only creates the rhythm of the
and inquiry. It is not a way out of a conundrum
photographic sequence but also sets its genre.
but a way in.
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Remli’s storytelling can be easily perceived as a negation of the documentary process. Perhaps it is, but, in dwelling on that one may ignore its more substantial and defining quality: its commitment to truth
