Best Photojournalist
Polish Association of Local Newspapers (Stowarzyszenie Gazet Lokalnych), for documentary work on migration in Tunisia.
Documentary Practice · Ghassen Oueslati
Stories told with patience, intimacy and consent.
Documentary photography and film for NGOs, UN agencies, broadcasters and international publications, across the Arab region, Africa, Europe and Asia.
Recognition
Awards, press & partners
Best Photojournalism Project
Tunisian Association of Alternative Media, with the Polish Association of Local Newspapers.
Published in
Vogue Italia · Elements Magazine · En Deux Magazine · Moevir Paris · GMARO UK
Field reporting
With correspondent Bel Trew for The Times and The Independent
Official photographer
FIFA World Cup Qatar with Alkass · Miss Tunisia · Miss International Japan · Fashion Week Tunisia
IPPFInternational Labour OrganizationArab Fund for Economic and Social DevelopmentGIZIslamic ReliefQatar FoundationQatar AirwaysWorld Summit for Social Development
A note on the work
The Arab region, and the wider South, is not one face. It is many, and I photograph it with the *patience *and *intimacy I believe it deserves. Every frame begins with *consent.
I am a Tunisian documentary photographer and filmmaker, based between Doha and Tunis. My work lives inside communities: Amazigh grandmothers in Djerba, mothers in the Tozeur oases, sub-Saharan migrants in Sfax and Tunis, young men returning to the boats of Zarzis, Balinese families in their courtyards, and the streets and markets of Hanoi and Hoi An.
Projects
Selected work
01 · Travel & cultural editorial
Vietnam
Hanoi, Da Nang & Hoi An
This photographic journey through Vietnam follows three very different places: the busy streets and everyday life of Hanoi, the coastal atmosphere and changing landscape of Da Nang, and the old streets, warm light and slower pace of Hoi An.
The series looks at Vietnam through its people, food, architecture, markets, streets and small moments of daily life. From early mornings in Hanoi to evenings along the coast and the lantern-lit streets of Hoi An, the photographs focus on the character of each place and the way tradition and modern life exist side by side.
Drag, swipe or use the arrows
02 · Impact film · Commissioned by IPPF Arab World Regional Office
Investing in people.
A regional impact film for the International Planned Parenthood Federation, Arab World Regional Office, showing what support from the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development has made possible in Sudan, Tunisia, Mauritania and Libya.
The film opens on people before logos: women receiving care, health workers preparing for the day, women running their own small businesses, and mobile clinics reaching communities far from the nearest health facility. It focuses on change rather than meetings, on services that continue after the project ends, and closes on one idea: investing in people is an investment in a healthier, more empowered and more prosperous future.
Play film · 2:37
0expected beneficiaries
0mobile clinics reaching remote and vulnerable areas
0health workers and volunteers trained
0women and young people in economic empowerment programmes
WithIPPF AWROArab Fund for Economic and Social DevelopmentSFPA · SudanATSR · TunisiaAMPF · MauritaniaCAWTAR
FormatDocumentary film · 2:37 · Arabic with English subtitles
03 · Reportage · With Bel Trew (The Times / The Independent)
The Southern Edge
A documentary collaboration with international correspondent Bel Trew covering migration on Tunisia's southeastern border. The work followed people, boats and first responders along the country's edge: portraits, interviews and the unrecorded daily labour of a coastline that has become a route.
Subjects were photographed at eye level, with informed consent, and only after time was given. Ben Guerdane & Zarzis, Tunisia.
04 · Commissioned by the International Labour Organization (ILO)
Decent work, up close
Nine short films documenting decent-work programmes, vocational training and youth-employment initiatives across Tunisia, made to UN visual standards with informed consent and safeguarding applied to every subject.
05 · Commissioned by the Embassy of Indonesia in Tunisia
Bali, a document
Families, market streets, working hands, temple dancers and students walking home from school. A document of one place, made by someone arriving from another, and looking long enough to see beyond the postcard.
06 · An ongoing series · Independent
The South, heritage and migration
An ongoing personal document of southern Tunisia: Amazigh women whose tattooed hands carry an unbroken visual language, mothers raising daughters in the oases at the Sahara's edge, and sub-Saharan migrants whose labour and presence have become inseparable from the country's south. The series refuses the single story.
07 · Editorial, events & fashion film
Light, style & moving image
Where the documentary work asks the camera to disappear, this work asks it to look: at posture, fabric, light and gesture. The same eye, addressed to a different question, in stills and on film.
Index
Selected assignments
Sudan, Tunisia, Mauritania & Libya. Mobile clinics, maternal and child health services, and economic empowerment for women and young people.
Sharjah, UAE. A programme supporting fatherless children: portraits, workshops and educational sessions for 850+ beneficiaries.
Doha, Qatar. Global summit on inequality, poverty and social protection: delegate portraits, session coverage and edited highlights.
Amman, Jordan. Documenting Jordanian memory, social identity and cultural heritage workshops.
Amman, Mafraq & Zarqa. Orphan welfare programmes, psychosocial support and food-security distributions for vulnerable families.
Doha, Qatar. Bringing education to out-of-school children and empowering underprivileged children through sport.
Doha & Yemen. Programmes empowering productive families, with documentary fieldwork in Yemen and coverage of Darb Al Saai.
Doha, Qatar. Documenting programmes and lived experiences with strict attention to dignity and informed consent.
Tunisia. Decent-work, vocational-training and youth-employment programmes, delivered to UN visual standards.
Tunisia. Community-led civic and youth-empowerment initiatives across multiple governorates.
Tunisia. Portraits and short documentary content profiling scholarship recipients and exchange programmes.
Ben Guerdane & Zarzis, Tunisia. Migration policy across Libya, Tunisia and Niger: portraits, interviews and B-roll under strict ethical protocols.
Travel and cultural editorial developed for The New York Times Magazine, ELLE Vietnam and Condé Nast Traveller UK.
Doha, Qatar. DOP for broadcast programming, documentary segments and on-location production.
Doha, Qatar. Photography and video reporting for editorial and documentary assignments.
Bali, Indonesia. Commissioned photo report: cultural, community and travel narratives.
Lusail, Qatar. Tournament coverage in the Lusail area and DOP for Alkass broadcast productions.
Tunis, Tunisia.
Japan.
Tunis, Tunisia.
Commission a story
Documentary, impact& editorial.
For NGOs, UN agencies, foundations, publications and brands that need stories told with care, in the field and on deadline, across the Arab region and beyond.