Between roar and silence: existence in liminality in Camille Farrah Lenain’s 'Made of Smokeless Fire'

Contemporary photography, particularly portraiture, increasingly explores identity, representation, and cultural memory, challenging dominant and colonial narratives. However, the experiences of queer diasporic Muslims in France and Western societies remain underrepresented. This intersection of queerness and Muslim identity is often seen as incompatible, leading to marginalization. Historically, photography has contributed to the erasure and misrepresentation of such identities. Camille Farrah Lenain’s Made of Smokeless Fire (2020-ongoing) examines these complexities, inspired by her uncle Farid, who died of who dies of complications from diabetes and HIV, after growing up in an Algerian Muslim-practicing family as a gay man. Through intimate portraits, Lenain amplifies the visibility of marginalized queer and racialized individuals, linking private memory to collective memory. Her work challenges historical narratives, using queer and liminal aesthetics to redefine identity and memory in contemporary photography.