Seif Kousmate, KOZ Collective

Seif Kousmate is a self-taught photographer who has developed a visual vocabulary that stands between documentary photography and the poetry of fine art photography. Since 2020, Kousmate has been working on his project Waha (واحة), a multi-dimensional essay that captures the consequences of climate change and globalization on oasis ecosystems in Morocco. His photographs explore representations of the oasis that challenge orientalist Eden-like narratives in attempts to more truthfully express the reality of deterioration. In this series, Kousmate explores and experiments, adding to his photographs external and organic elements such as dry dates, palm tree skins, and soils that are intimately linked to the places he photographs. He also incorporates acid and fire into his compositions, taking viewers back and forth between the reality of the present and the process of degradation that is yet to come.

Kousmate’s work has been exhibited in Europe and Africa and has also been published in international magazines and newspapers such as The York Times, Newsweek, The Guardian, El País, among others.