personal work: Niger/Amanar

From 2003 to 2006, UNESCO assisted the Association for the Promotion of Tifinagh in Agadez, Niger in the publication of the bimonthly journal Amanar. The journal was published in both French,the official language of Niger, and Tifinagh, the ancient script used to write the Tuareg language, Tamasheq. Amanar included daily news as well as traditional tales and legends and was met with great interest amongst the Tuareg as a means of affirming their unique culture while expressing it in a modern form. The title Amanar refers to the name of a particular star, which the Tuareg have traditionally used to navigate through the desert at night.

Traveling by foot and camel through the Air Massif Mountain range to deliver the journal to remote Tuareg camps and villages. Bagzan, Niger 2005.
   
Women practice writing Tifinagh, the traditional Tuareg script, in the sand floor of a hut.Aouderas, Niger 2005.
  
Sidi Moumounta, a Tuareg journalist and cultural activist, teaches Tifinagh to Tuareg children in his hometown of Iferouane.Iferouane, Niger 2005.
     
  
A young girl practices writing Tifinagh.Iferouane, Niger 2005.
   
A young woman reading the journal, Amanar, for the first time.Aouderas, Niger 2005.
   
A young Tuareg woman.Takazanzan, Niger 2005.
     
  
Tuareg women preparing for a wedding.Awkade-de, Niger 2005.
   
A young woman in a camp on the edge of the Tenere, a vast plain of sand, which extends over approximately 400,000 square miles. This community is one of the last of completely nomadic Tuareg in Niger.Tchizirzak, Niger 2005.
   
The Tifinagh alphabet.Aouderas, Niger 2005.
     
  
A Tuareg man on a camel reading the journal, Amanar.Tchizirzak, Niger 2005.
   
Sidi Moumounta wrapping his tagelmoust, the traditional headwrap worn by Tuareg men.Tchizirzak, Niger 2005.
   
Tchizirzak, Niger 2005.