Laura Jean Zito • Magnetic Sinai
WHEN I FIRST
TRAVELLED
to Sinai very few Bedouin spoke English.
I only remember one who was fluent. In
order to photograph the Bedouin, I had
to learn the unique Bedouin dialects, and
spend great quantities of time befriending
the people. The Bedouin called me “Noura
min Soura,” or “Laura of the Pictures.”
Noura, ironically, means “light” in
Arabic. By learning the language, word
by word written into my notebook, I was
able to photograph situations normally
completely off-limits to foreigners, for
instance, the large congregations of men
discussing the news, or feasting, called
maga’ads.
In earlier times, all the discussion, of news
and politics mainly, was in the form of
ad-libbed poetry. Even if a man wanted
to tell a woman how much he liked her, it
was considered impolite unless phrased
in poetic verse.
Playing the simsimiyya, a stringed
instrument commonly used by
Bedouins for social occasions