A Room for The Living
Digital photography, CAP Kuwait (2019)
A Room For The Living details the accounts and living conditions of the residents of an ailing government built vertical housing project in Kuwait. Sawaber Complex suffered from constant deterioration and poor management from the date of occupancy in 1989 until its eventual demolition in 2019. Its residents endured decades knowing of the looming news that Sawaber Complex would eventually be demolished to make room for an unknown new project.
I took these photographs when Dalal Musaed Alhashash and myself conducted a series of interviews with some of the residents of Sawaber back in 2013. The interviews shed light on the effect of the political climate and state strategies on the everyday life of groups and individuals. Today, this work stands as a reminder of how the rising interest and resistance against the demolition of Sawaber shifted from a case of social injustice to that of architectural conservation.