Paris-Algiers-Paris is the rhythm for many Algerians who have emigrated to France. They endlessly shuttle back and forth between their birth land and their new homeland - not only physically, but also in their heads. With her photographs, Nadia Benchallal, born in France of Algerian parents, wants to tell what it is like to stand between two worlds. FROM SHORE TO SHORE is a report of the trips that she made to Algeria in the footsteps of her parents. She places the photographs between portraits of herself and her parents, as a visualisation of the journey she made to her roots. Her regular stays in Algeria enabled Benchallal to record everyday life there in all its intimacy.

Nadia Benchallal (b. 1963) has done series of photographs on Moslem women all over the world and on children of North African origin who like herself were born in France. Benchallal, who has been photographing since 1990, learned her trade as an assistant to big names such as Martine Barrat, Arthur Elgort and Annie Leibovitz.

Courtesy Contact Press Images (USA/France)