Abdelkader Education Project to host town hall and exhibit April 10
Fulbright Scholar Sarah Goodman and Abdelkader Education Project founder Kathy Garms stand with Fethi Sahraoui, a photographer from Elkader’s Sister City in Mascara, Algeria. Fethi will tour Elkader and take photographs for a town hall exhibit and Q&A session at city hall on April 10, at 6:30 p.m. (Photo by Willis Patenaude)
By Willis Patenaude | Times-Register
In March 2023, Fethi Sahraoui from Mascara, Algeria and Sarah Goodman, who was on a Fulbright Scholarship in the country at the time, engaged in conversations. Among them was the fact Fethi was born in Elkader’s Sister City and had long heard stories of this small Midwest town. It captivated his imagination.
Having never heard of the town or Elkader’s namesake, Emir Abd el Kader, Sarah became curious. She wondered who this Muslim leader was, why was a tiny town in Iowa named after him and, in truth, what was a Sister City? Fethi had a similar curiosity, and due to his work as a photographer, which Sarah knew about after seeing work in the New York Times, the two forged an idea to come to Elkader.
The idea was to have Fethi walk the town and immerse himself in the community while taking photos, in hopes of creating an exhibit that could be shared with Elkader and Mascara to bring the two cities closer together.
Sarah called city hall, and at the mere mention of Emir Abd el Kader, she was given the name of Kathy Garms, a founder of the Abdelkader Education Project (AEP) and, quite possibly, the most passionate person you will ever speak with about the Emir.
Conversations continued among the three over the next three years, as did searching for funding to get Fethi to Elkader. AEP, with the help of an Iowa Arts Council Grant and an approved visa, saw Fethi arrive in Elkader on Sunday. He finally planted his feet in a town that so stirred his imagination, was a topic of “funny anecdotes” around the kitchen table and a place he’d only seen in photographs.
Kathy will guide Fethi and Sarah around town, visiting museums and other historic landmarks, while also talking with local leaders, engaging with the community and, of course, taking pictures.
For Fethi, the purpose of the visit is twofold. There is a desire to learn more about the famous Emir, a once prominent historical figure. This journey and the photos are sort of a “humble tribute” to el Kader and all he stands for. The other and more central purpose is to take photos in the hopes of “creating a dialogue” through them.
“I feel like photography is a universal language, and I hope what I’m going to produce here will have a universal dimension,” Fethi said.
Traveling with Fethi is Sarah, who is also looking to learn more about the Emir, who has fallen out of the history books. She wants to potentially write a book or two about el Kader and Fethi’s visit.
She views the project as a “visual crossroads” and hopes it is meaningful to the public.
Kathy hopes the idea allows for both cities to have a better understanding of the other, as well as implore the community to take seriously the fact that Elkader is unique. By most accounts, it stands alone as the only city in the United States named after a Muslim leader.
The picture-taking journey through Elkader will wrap up with a town hall event on April 10, at city hall, starting at 6:30 p.m. The event is expected to host an exhibit of Fethi’s work with photographs of Mascara and Elkader and be an occasion for continued discussion about the Emir, Elkader’s Sister City and the human connections that can be made through photography.
For Fethi, it will be a moment to “listen and learn” and fill the imaginations of others in Mascara and the world with the images of two unlikely cities and the bond they share.
