MRAD BEN MAHMOUD'S VISION OF TUNISIA

“Participating in a journey across Tunisia in a voyage of initiation in time and space, a journey between past and present.”

BY SUNA MOYA - 24 SEPTEMBER 2018

Photographer Mrad Ben Mahmoud photos both open a window onto a country and act as a shield against forgetting. They contain the secrets and treasures of Tunisia.

OBJECTIF TUNISIE - Vison of Tunisia

The shadow cast on the ground of a worker performing an age-old task, the hidden intimate treasures of a landscape in a country in which nature has been kind and an unchanging méditerrané lifestyle are all familiar territory to Tunisia’s foremost photographer Mrad Ben Mahmoud.

In his new book Objectif Tunisie he once again shows he has never tired of photographing and recording his beloved country. His passion and constant curiosity as to its history, countryside and inhabitants are the constant source for his unending interest in Tunisia. His book extends an invitation to take part in a journey. In a symbolic act of memory creation its pages contain the secrets and treasures of Tunisia a virtual expression of Mrad Ben Mahmoud’s wish to preserve his image of a Tunisia.

The choice of photographs retraces the steps of a photographer who zigzags across Tunisia in a voyage of initiation in time and space- a journey between past and present. These photos both open a window onto a country but also act as a shield against forgetting the magic of the past. The Tunisia that Mrad Ben Mahmoud offers us is a dreamland, a land where nature is generous and things are beautiful and where, not so long ago, we used to walk. Taking us back to the garden we find the sweetness of life, its daily enchantments, the omnipresent welcome and, above all an atmosphere of friendliness and a desire to share - universal gestures that date back to the mists of time.

But the photographer wants to show us more "These pictures offer us a lesson in courage and optimism in these times of worry. They are also the manifesto of a Mediterranean lifestyle that we share from one bank to another, and a reminder of our roots, our common culture that this brother country. Thus althought a paean to times past and tinged with nostalgia it looks back to a happy Tunisia that Mrad Ben Mahmoud is well able to record And what of the man? In many senses his vision has always been with us because his images have accompanied us through his images - through books, postcards, promotional campaigns of the Tunisian National Office of Tourism (ONTT) and films, Tunisia and its promotion.

Yet for such a high profile artist Mrad Ben Mahmoud is famously not very talkative. His familiar figure, his sharp eyes have always melted into the landscape, and the landscape is grateful to him. He gives himself up entirely to this non-intrusive objective, of which he only knows how to respect the games of shadows and lights, who knows when and how to shoot, who knows how to wait patiently and calmly that the monument, the site or the street he chose to be at their best, at the height of their beauty.

It is his ability, honed by a distinguished career as a photographer and cinematographer that allows us to touch the basic elements that drive the human spirit – in his view curiosity and the desire to love and love deeply of what surrounds us and of which we are made.

His work can therefore work both ways – that is what his images show us - the mirror image in which we discover the reflection of our own interior landscape. A personal landscape we should never renounce nor not feel proud.

An intimate landscape secretly dedicated to beauty and brought to life in this wonderful book by a master of his art.

Mrad Ben Mahmoud VISION OF TUNISIA Participating in a journey across Tunisia - in a voyage of initiation in time and space, a journey between past and present.

Mrad Ben Mahmoud - Photographer. After studying at the Ecole Louis Lumière in Paris, Mrad Ben Mahmoud joined the Natural History Museum, where he explored every aspect of photography. His experience was wide-ranging, covering fashion shots, architectural photography, industrial scenes and the cinema. Back in Tunisia, he worked for Tunisian tourism, contributed to many books of art, and also became head cameraman for some documentary films. His passion for his country and his constant curiosity about its history, countryside and residents, explain his unending interest in Tunisia.