Faranji is a delicately self-published photo album of 120 pages, 110 images and texts from my journey to Ethiopia.
A photobook version quite different from the ones that is used to today, Faranji captures much more clearly the raw, organic image of landscape, people and their lives.
A book both for those who love to travel at the African continent, as well as for those who just love every trip, every route and every true story. Published in Greek and English.
Professor emeritus at the University of West Attica, Costis Antoniadis, wrote about the book:
“What captured my interest in the book “Faranji”, was Hara Sklika’s general approach to photography in her journey through Ethiopia. A short trip, followed by a book which depicts not so much Ethiopia itself, but the journey through it. This is no easy feat, especially for a trip to such an exotic destination: My wandering starts way before my arrival in Ethiopia, Sklika notes in the introduction. Already overwhelmed with countless images, fueling the desire to travel, she’s finally there, looking around this different world, attempting to understand and photograph it. But what to photograph? How can one leave behind previous representations they have seen in other photographs, cinema or even the ones they themselves formed in their mind, reading a travel guide or a history book?
We seldom realize; the better prepared we are for a trip to an unknown destination, the more difficult it becomes for us to see clearly and capture a raw image of a landscape, of people and their way of life. The lush photo books of great photographers, and the photos of National Geographic (which depict everything perfectly, whatever the subject may be) are catalytic in how we process a country’s visual language and how we photograph it ourselves. Sklika seems to have escaped the trap of images past, and realizes that she is and always will be Faranji -a stranger- on this land. A word of admission, which she selected for the title of her book. She harnesses and speaks of this experience, to describe the visual reality that tourism has crafted in this indigent country: I am taken aback when I see them walk towards me. They know what to do, standing in front of a camera. Their poses are professional, their salary non-negotiable. It’s a superficial image, which the residents stage themselves and their way of life. To see the reality you’ve been imagining, you must pay: your guide, the tribe leaders, passersby, everybody. They are all negotiating the shoot while standing by the village entrance. The head of the tribe gives us the green light. There’s further talks about extra money, a t-shirt, your sunglasses. Anything.
Sklika follows her planned journey and tries to find breaks in the theatricality of it all: to sneak into a cave to take the hand of a real woman: She follows me everywhere. I wonder why. Her name is Ari, her son’s name is Gabo. She becomes my shadow as I browse through the market. I give her my water bottle to share with her son. She gives me her bracelet and wishes me minimal pain whenever I give birth to my third child. And it is in those moments that she captures the strongest photographs of the book. Her notes accompany the photographs, and with no direct reference to them, create a parallel narrative: a journey to an exotic land which seems more esoteric. And once the dust has settled, she commences her return, Sklika ponders upon unanswered questions. She concludes: In the endless dirt roads I leave the promise to return. I take with me raw emotion and images, only a part of which I was able to capture.”
Costis Antoniadis
ISBN (Greek edition) 978-618-00-1930-8
ISBN (English edition) 978-618-00-1931-5
Available in bookstores and at www.photo.gr/product/faranji.
Photographed and written by Hara Sklika
Curated by Costis Antoniadis
Graphic Design by Alexandros Moraitis
Text editing by Anastasia Tsivgouli
Translation into English by Artemis Vergou