Kuwait
Date: 2026
Medium: Photo Transfer on metal
Date: 2026
Medium: Photo Transfer on metal
Souk al Safafeer, or the Coppersmith Souk, has been active for 40 years, sustained by a lineage of skilled hands where the craft of metalwork has been passed down from one generation to another. Alongside the deep passion the craftsmen carry are their concerns over the uncertain future of the market.
Imagine a young man leaving his country forty or fifty years ago, working the same job in the same shop. For him and his peers, Kuwait and the specific shops they inhabit have become a second home. Furnished with memorabilia, religious artwork and faded family portraits, they serve as a bridge to the homes left behind. Alongside these images are the portraits; in testament to their work, we transferred photos of the craftsmen and store owners onto metal sheets, tying the place and the materiality of the market together.
The stories these shops tell shift our perception of the market as a mere commercial space to a living and breathing archive. While efforts are in place to preserve the physical architecture of the souk, we must ask: how do we honour and uphold the people that make the market breathe?
