Eid Portraits

In July, Muslim people all around the world celebrated Eid, the feast that marks the end of the Holy Month of Ramadan. Considered the second most important religious festivity in Islam, it symbolizes the closing of a chapter of deep worship and strengthening of family ties. On the eve of Eid, markets are lively deep into the night as families buy “Eid clothes” as well as presents for children who are sumptuously dressed with colorful suites for the beautiful occasion.

Unfortunately this year -more than in the past- the sanctity of the Holy Month was disrupted by terrorist attacks in different cities and by the suffering people continuously face due to ongoing conflicts. The effects of the bloody wars and attacks all around the Middle East are particularly evident at the MSF (Doctors without Borders) Reconstructive Surgery Hospital in Amman, Jordan. Children and adults from Yemen, Iraq, Syria and Gaza badly injured by bombs, car explosions and accidents live in the hospital with a relative or a friend, surrounded by very supportive medical staff.

Against a velvet claret backdrop fictionally reproduced to enact a photography studio in the Old Damascus or in Baghdad, people of the hospital show off proudly their clothes, presents and figures for an Eid portrait. Back home, their family members are still suffering from war, but the patients of the hospital nonetheless lend to their wounds, happy today and hoping to celebrate the next Eid together with their loved ones in peace.