Auteurs :
Vanessa Lacaille,
Mounir Ayoub,
Hamed Kriouane
Photographies :
Yann Gross,
M’hamed Kilito,
Collective Bled El Abar
Land of the Wells
We decided to produce this book to tell the story of how this project came to be. The texts, photos and drawings contained in this construction site diary were generated over the course of the various experiences we have had over the last three years in the Tunisian desert together with the people who live there and who are keeping it alive.
The project
The inception of the project to repair a well in the desert took place in April 2023. We were sitting next to a well in the Nefzaoua region in the South of Tunisia, which is bordered by Chott el Djerid to the north, the Grand Erg Oriental to the south, Jebel Dahar to the east and Algeria to the west. The well consists of a simple hole in the ground, surrounded by a low brick wall and raised by a horizontal bar on which hangs a pulley, a rope and a bucket. Midéni, a former nomad now settled in the area, draws the water and pours it into the trough. A herd of goats drink while the sheep wait their turn.
We hear engines roaring only a few kilometres away, as a constant stream of construction machinery comes and goes. A road under construction is ripping the desert open. Trucks are pumping water onto the ground. On either side, gaping holes drain away the water, leaving it to evaporate. Further down the road, a house sits next to another house under construction, then another, all looking exactly the same. Construction stakes are planted in the ground, marking the arrival of a new town with several hundred identical houses. A drilling machine digs the water wells that will be used to irrigate the future palm groves for the production of dates (Deglet Nour) intended for export. A site sign indicates that the work is being carried out by the Tunisian army with European funding. Further south still, at the end of the road, an off-road camper van is parked under a palm tree, the sole survivor of a lost oasis. Two Austrian tourists are camping there.
Parution avril 2025
- format 22 x 30 cm
- 112 pages intérieures sur papier offset 100 gr, couverture bristol 300 gr et jaquette offset 100 gr
- impression quadrichromie
- bilingue anglais – arabe,
- 90 photographies couleur et noir et blanc et croquis
- Catalogue exposition
- ISBN 9789938971637
- Prix de vente 49 dt / 24 €
Book Design : Samuel Schmidt, dirtygraphik
Printing : Simpact, Tunis
Publisher Lalla Hadria Editions – Tunisie
