Ongoing economic and social inequality, a legacy of the dictatorship, affects Tunisians across generations, but has particularly pronounced impacts on young people. ICTJ worked with four young photographers to confront the consequences of marginalization and explore its impacts on Tunisian youth. Their four photo galleries comprise the exhibition "Marginalization in Tunisia: Images of an Invisible Repression.” In this gallery, Emna Fetni explores the neighborhoods on the social and spacial fringes of Tunis.
The Hood
About the Gallery
Young Tunisians have long suffered from social exclusion and a lack of opportunities. Their marginalization has resulted in elevated high school dropout and unemployment rates and has further deepened the generation gap. It has also created fertile ground for criminal and terrorist group recruitment: such organizations can offer not only financial support to marginalized individuals, but also a sense of purpose. Terror attacks in Tunisia have primarily been committed by groups based in working class neighborhoods.
To capture this "invisible repression" and the experience of marginalized youth, Emna Fetni embedded herself in the overlooked neighborhoods of Mhamdia and Zarhouni, located on the social and spatial fringes of the vibrant center of Tunis. She documented daily life in a place where you can find everything and nothing, and she precisely saw beyond the tattoos, smoke, hounds and ripped jeans of Tunisia’s youth. Something only their eyes and expressions can tell.
About the Photographer
Emna Fetni, 24, is a political science researcher and Tunis native. She is a music lover, an amateur photographer and is particularly passionate about cinema. Her interest in photography started two years ago, when she bought a camera and discovered it was her favorite means of expression. “It allows me to completely escape, to escape from the ugliness of the world and to grasp its beauty”, she says. Entirely self-taught, Emna spontaneously went out to the streets of Tunis and started taking pictures of strangers. Today, as a strong believer in the power of photography to raise the level of awareness in society, she is working on developing her photography skills in order to tell more stories through her camera lenses.
Explore the other three galleries that comprise "Marginalization in Tunisia: Images of an Invisible Repression"
Nedra Jouini on the psychological effects of marginalization
Ali Jabeur on the economic and ecological decline of the Gulf of Gabbes
Ashraf Gharbi on the challenges facing one couple who stood up to the dictatorship