How I came to photograph the Sinai Bedouin is a story of fascination meeting circumstances that dispelled my fear of the “other,” instilled by inherited cultural messages. I discovered a photographer’s paradise, visually and symbolically. When Sinai belonged to Israel, I had special access inside the life of the Bedouin there, who had called me, "Nora min Soura," or "Laura of the Images." Nora, ironically, means light, in Arabic. By learning the unique Bedouin dialects, and spending great quantities of time befriending the people, I was able to photograph situations normally completely off-limits to foreigners, inside harems, or among large congregations (Maga’ads) of men praying or feasting. Bedouin allowed me to do this in a huge leap of faith and trust. I found photography a window through which meetings of the two mindsets of East and West took place. What is priceless is the educational process itself which the Bedouin have undergone in acknowledging the value of photographs. Initially loathe to allow me any photography at all, when I do happen to have the picture they are looking for in my bag, almost as if by magic, their joy is evident in their expressions of gratitude.
Bedouin love nothing more than freedom. As their world becomes hemmed in by trappings of modern life, freedom of thought will hopefully supplant a disappearing freedom of the open landscape, and leave behind a rigid attachment to outmoded traditions, both physical and mental, especially those pertaining to the suppression of women. I believe I was at the same time a mascot, an anomaly and a role model for Bedouin, unused to seeing a woman travel about by herself, but always curious to see new pictures I produced. Likewise, Westerners have much to learn from Bedouin, who, like American Indians, have a deep respect for and symbiosis with the natural world they inhabit.
Sinai is a magnet, a neutral meeting ground for people of every race and culture, encouraging a natural migration of Westerners and Middle Easterners alike, an overlooked asset in the tool chest of the peace process. I hope I can show both the old and “new” Sinai and the peace that emanates from this spiritual place back to all the countries that its modern tourists hail from. Hopefully the communal way of life will be able to remain intact despite the challenges of the modern day.
