The Nile
“Before the Nile gave, today it takes.” This is what one of my guides declared during one of my many workdays. The Nile, the second longest river in the world, has been a nerve center for the societies that depend on it for millennia. Yet, this vital water resource for 500 million Africans, which also provides more than 90% of Egypt’s drinking water needs, could be the scene of an ecological and food disaster, warns the UN. On either side of its banks, the Nile presents a narrow fertile strip where crops grow, cities rise, and where nearly 95% of the population lives. Beyond it, a clear border emerges, suddenly giving way to desert. This fertile territory along the river is receding a little more each year, eroded by drought, urbanization, and the increasing pressure that human activity is putting on the river.
And everything suggests that its drying up will accelerate in part because of the construction of Africa’s largest dam: the Renaissance Dam, which holds back part of the Nile’s water in Ethiopia and is now the source of political tensions between the three countries concerned (Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan). The food security of millions of Egyptians, the supply of drinking water and the economic vitality of the entire country are threatened by the upheavals undergone by this millennia-old river. This work constitutes a current assessment of the effects of climate change in Egypt, revealed through the visible changes in the Nile.
Adil Boukind
Adil Boukind is a documentary photographer and photojournalist born in France and living in Montreal for almost 20 years. His work focuses on the integration of ancestral practices into the context of modern society and how they have adapted or, on the contrary, remained the same. This approach aims to highlight the lessons and benefits they produce. Alongside his work, he also explores societal issues, particularly related to territorial identity and water issues. His travels have taken him through several countries such as Iraq, India, Nepal, Mexico, the United States and, more recently, Egypt. Adil regularly collaborates with Quebec and Canadian media such as The Globe and Mail, Le Devoir, La Presse and international media such as Le Monde and The Guardian.
Exhibition presented free of charge in the 1912 Building of La Pulperie.
Exhibition presented within the framework of the Zoom Photo Festival Saguenay.
For more information on the Zoom Photo Festival Saguenay, consult the zoomphotofestival.ca
