Remains

PHOTOGRAPHY

Mar 31

In Remains, photographer Hamzeh Zahran reflects on returning to Amman with the distance of diaspora, confronting a fractured sense of home. Through black-and-white imagery, he traces tensions between past and present, family and self, capturing intimate and symbolic moments that reveal what endures – and what feels irrevocably altered – in his evolving relationship with Jordan.

Photography Hamzeh Zahran

From ancient statues at the Amman Citadel to the spray-painted walls across the city, I confront the feeling of being an outsider in my own home. Having left Jordan at nineteen and returned with the eyes of someone who has lived in the diaspora, I find myself navigating a space that no longer feels like mine. Everywhere I look, I see a piece of a disjointed relationship between past and present, family and self, home and the feeling of never fully being at home.

“Everywhere I look, I see a piece of a disjointed relationship between past and present, family and self, home and the feeling of never fully being at home.”

Working in black and white allows me to approach these moments with distance, as if revisiting memories rather than documenting the present. A Quran on a dashboard is a reminder of Islam's constant presence, one I no longer see in my daily life in the diaspora. The absence of something so ordinary becomes a marker of the change that has taken place over time. In contrast, a photograph of my mother's shadow as she moves through the house with a walker reflects a more intimate connection to family and the realities of growing older.

In many ways, this is an attempt to understand what remains of my relationship with Jordan, and to reconnect even as that relationship continues to change. It's about recognising what we leave behind, and what refuses to leave us.

“In many ways, this is an attempt to understand what remains of my relationship with Jordan, and to reconnect even as that relationship continues to change.”

Goddamn this life in Arabic

About Hamzeh

Hamzeh Zahran (b. 1989) is a lens-based artist living in San Francisco, exploring themes of identity, memory, and belonging. Born in Amman, Jordan, his work is shaped by a life spent between cultures and the persistent feeling of being in-between.

Hamzeh began his career as a Production Assistant at Magnum Photos and a Media Lab Associate at the International Center of Photography (ICP). Following a seven-year career as a digital archivist for Google, AMD, and Airbnb, he recently returned to his practice full-time. His work has been featured on the Leica Blog, as well as by the International Center of Photography, Complex MENA, and Vita Magazine (Italy).

His latest project, Remains, was self-published as a limited-edition zine in 2025. The work is featured in three upcoming US exhibitions and showcases this March: Cornell University’s Bibliowicz Gallery (as part of A Book is a Conversation with a Stranger in the Future), the Vermont Center for Photography (Juried by Marvin Heiferman), and Filter Space, Chicago (Juried by Sara Ickow).

To see more of his work, visit his website or follow him on Instagram

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In Remains, photographer Hamzeh Zahran reflects on returning to Amman with the distance of diaspora, confronting a fractured sense of home. Through black-and-white imagery, he traces tensions between past and present, family and self, capturing intimate and symbolic moments that reveal what endures – and what feels irrevocably altered – in his evolving relationship with Jordan.

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Remains

“Everywhere I look, I see a piece of a disjointed relationship between past and present, family and self, home and the feeling of never fully being at home.”

“In many ways, this is an attempt to understand what remains of my relationship with Jordan, and to reconnect even as that relationship continues to change.”

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