Oasis

 

The Al-Ahsa oasis is the largest in the world and is surrounded by a vast desert in eastern Saudi Arabia.. It is a green haven with over 2.5 million date palms and prosperous agriculture and livestock farming takes place there. An enormous underground aquifer irrigates the area through the flow of springs and canals, connecting the farms in this urban-rural fabric.

 

Over several nights, I photographed the oasis, walking among the palm trees under the moonlight. The nightly breeze and the humidity of the place made me feel like I was in a beautiful, vivid dream where everything was possible. Beneath the palm trees, I met friendly people who invited me to their homes and joined them for rounds of tea. I had the opportunity to meet and photograph producers of the al-hassawi rice, a reddish rice that is only produced in the oasis. I also photographed date producers, vegetable and flower growers, camel caretakers, craftswomen, and land workers from different regions such as Sudan or Bangladesh. The treasures of the oasis lie in its land and its people.

 

As a child, I believed oases were mirages that appeared in the desert, thinking they were not real places but visions of an idyllic, utopian, and therefore unattainable location. I entered the Al-Ahsa oasis with the childish idea of seeking the treasures of the place and live a dream in full color. Water is the great treasure that makes everything possible in this oasis. Then there is its people and the ancestral wisdom of working the land. All the richness I found in the oasis contrasts with the vast desert of sand that surrounds it. Entering and leaving the oasis is like stepping into a dream and then returning to reality. My time in the oasis served as a vivid reminder that life strives to flourish, even in seemingly adverse situations. 

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