
Mohammad Alfaraj Saudi, b. 1993
“Are you gonna die standing and proud like palm trees do?”
Is a photograph of dead standing palm trees, and the title asks a direct question testing morality and conscience, are you proud of all of what you’ve done? Were you just and fair? Were you always on the side of good? Then only you earn the right to die like a palm tree. Proud and standing.
And of course in terms of the photograph technicality, the choice of black and white film is about emphasizing the shapes, the lines and the composition where the trees really resemble people standing in an empowering pose. Looking right at you, while they ask the question.