22 DAYS IN BETWEEN

In his photobook, Salih Basheer collects the few memories he has of his parents, who passed away when he was three years old. These memories are presented from a child’s perspective in a mix of images, writing, self-portraits, and drawings, as fragments of a lost childhood. The book is Basheer’s visual process of learning more about his parents — and himself — and serves as a method of healing from personal trauma. Basheer was awarded the prestigious W. Eugene Smith Grant, The Everyday Projects Grant, and AFAC’s Visual Arts Grant to complete this book.

“I have only a few memories of my parents. I remember I was once with my mother in our house yard, and I was horrified by the noise of an airplane flying low spraying insecticide. I was trying to hide in my mother’s arms. I also remember I was once with my father as he was driving us in his white Fiat to the mosque for the Tarawih prayer. It was Ramadan and I went with my mother to the women’s section on the second floor to enjoy watching the prayers from above.

My last memory of them was on their last day. I was on my way back from kindergarten with my brother. I was in a white shirt carrying my bag. I saw people gathered in our house yard; they were all crying and there was a police car in front of the house. I can’t recall whose death it was, my mother or father’s. These few remaining memories of my parents were seen through my eyes as a child.

I always ask myself whether these memories were real or made up. My mother passed away in 1998 when I was three years old. Only 17 days after her death, something happened. My father was accidentally hit with a stick on his head while mediating a conflict between two groups of people. Five days later, he died in the hospital. After both my parents passed away, we moved to live with my grandmother.” From the Preface, by Salih Basheer

Designed by Lars Prevelakis Bai (in a limited edition of 700) and published by Disko Bay in Copenhagen (2023).