Photos taken by Hadia Bakkar
Films and movies can easily depict the sequence of a narrative through multiple frames and angles. Photography, however, only allows for one image to tell an entire story. Hadia Bakkar ’20 finds this challenge to be even more rewarding.
Bakkar has long been interested in films and photos, and has mainly focused on documentary and audio work throughout her life. She has a Case Gallery opening soon which will feature some of her audio creations.
Stemming from an interest in journalism, she realized how multi-media the field is becoming, and starting to be introduced to media classes at Skidmore.
She initially got into photography when she took an introductory course this semester. Although the technique is very new to her, she has fallen in love with it and plans on taking advanced photography next semester
This recent interest is what sparked her collection. Her series of photographs stems from a project she had to do in her class, where she went around town and found abandoned and rustic items. The pictures came out of the technique Wabi Sabi, which is a Japanese philosophy of looking at things that are run down and rustic and seeing them in a beautiful nuanced way
Bakkar explained how she found the concept “really intriguing and ended up going around Saratoga, especially the older part that most Skidmore students don’t even go to, like West Side, which used to be more immigrant based.” This allowed for her to tell a unique story through items that would not be thought about otherwise.
“I did this loop of west side three or four times and every time I would find something new outside of someone’s house, and I thought that was really intriguing because it shows that these things are kind of abandoned, but at the same time they gain a life of their own.”
Through her project, she was able to create a collection of photos that carry meaning and weight at a time when they are thought to be useless.
Bakkar has started to grow from her new photography skills, where she has “already started to see things in almost a frame.” Which, according to her, is a really great way to look at what’s next to and around you, because “it makes you think more about the details.”
She has found herself looking at the little details in things that people normally overlook and don’t think twice about, like a coffee mug left outside or an old broken fan. Finding life in the lifeless has made her think about the little stories that every item holds.
On campus, she has specifically been drawn to photographing nature as — though in a very different way — she finds it almost abandoned like the items she discovers downtown. Nature has its own life outside of humans.
Through her new interest in letting photos tell an entire story, Bakkar has become intrigued by the many things that may seem like nothing, but could mean everything.
“Photography gives these very small and irrelevant objects time to shine.”