Waiting for Palms – Peter Ydeen curated by Camilla Boemio

Waiting for Palms is a series of urban landscape photographs taken in Morocco and Egypt, exploring the points where the silent traces of tradition intersect with the turbulence of modern expansion. The images dwell on everyday life, set within monumental landscapes and constructed from an accumulation of small, unheroic moments. Together, they form a tapestry of immediate yet enigmatic worlds—intimate, yet always elusive—creating an experience of perpetual interpretation.

Shot between 2016 and 2017 in Essaouira, the Tafilalet region, and Fez in Morocco, and from Cairo to Aswan in Egypt, the images capture a timeless world with muted colors, evocative lighting, delicate geometries, and portraits of a reflective people. This photographic reportage seeks to reveal the warmth and gentle humanity of a region often regarded as mysterious.

The series represents a sophisticated approach to travel photography, built upon the author’s method of engaging with urban landscapes. The people in these photographs are integral to the landscapes themselves, rather than being depicted in traditional ways or contexts. The central theme explores how landscapes reflect the gestalt of the communities that inhabit them, exemplified by the photograph that gives the series its title—a fully covered woman standing beside a mural of palms.