These photographs were produced during a research project in Somalia exploring data rights, digital protections, and participatory approaches to understanding the experiences of underserved and internally displaced communities.

What remained with me after the fieldwork was not only the research itself, but the conditions under which it took place. Somalia is frequently absent from global public consciousness despite continuing insecurity, displacement, and conflict. Access, movement, and visibility were often highly restricted, shaping both the research process and my experience of the country.

The photographs reflect these conditions. Rather than documenting research participants directly, they focus on the spaces around the research: secured compounds, framed views, partial glimpses of the city, and interiors defined by barriers, thresholds, and limited sightlines. The resulting images convey a sense of distance and mediation, revealing how conflict and security infrastructures shape what can be seen, known, and experienced.

As a researcher concerned with participation and rights, I became increasingly aware of the tension between proximity and separation. While participatory methods seek to foreground local voices and lived experience, the realities of conducting research within a conflict setting often produce forms of physical and epistemic distance. The photographs therefore function less as documentary records of Somalia and more as reflections on the politics of access, visibility, and knowledge production in contexts affected by conflict.

Together, they explore what it means to look outwards from spaces of security towards places that remain only partially visible.