GAZA EMPIRE

Gaza Empire explores a group of young men in Kampala who form shared identities within fragmented urban spaces. Through frontal portraits, the project reflects on repetition, presence, and belonging within a network of social “islands”.

Gaza Empire

In the informal settlements of Kampala, groups of young men form tightly bound social structures that operate as autonomous units within the urban fabric.

“Gaza Empire” focuses on one of these groups.

Its members gather and train in improvised open spaces between corrugated metal structures, where the body becomes a primary tool for negotiating presence, identity, and belonging. Their practice is not oriented towards formal competition, but towards sustaining a position within a fragmented and unstable environment.

The photographs follow a strict visual structure: full-body portraits, frontal, under harsh natural light combined with flash. This interaction produces subtle duplications and shadows, introducing a visual tension that suggests a layered and unstable condition of presence.

Through repetition, individuals appear simultaneously as part of a collective and as singular figures. Small variations in posture and gaze reveal differences while reinforcing the system.

The surrounding environment is not a backdrop but an active element, defining spatial limits and invisible boundaries between groups.

Within this context, the city can be understood as an archipelago: a network of social “islands” that coexist, intersect, and confront one another.

The project explores how identity is constructed and maintained within these structures, where presence is continuously negotiated and performed.