“Mtmarfga” by Ainhoa Ezkurra Cabello

Words and photos by Ainhoa Ezkurra Cabello

"This year marks fifty years since Spain’s withdrawal from Western Sahara. The wound remains open. The Sahrawi people continue to live in exile and in diaspora, deprived of their right to self-determination and sovereignty.

The project Mtmarfga is the result of long conversations with Mulaha and uses her as a representation of what many Sahrawis in the diaspora endure, reflecting on their persistent invisibility in the media and collective imagination.

A travel document issued under the United Nations Convention of 28 of September 1954 is an identity document that allows stateless persons to travel internationally when they cannot obtain a passport from their country of origin.

Blurred identity.

Mulaha arrived in Spain as a child through Vacaciones en Paz, a humanitarian program that for decades has allowed Sahrawi children to spend summers with Spanish families, providing care and an experience different from life in the camps. What began as a temporary stay became a permanent turning point in her life.

Photograph of Mulaha as a child placed on the Western Sahara flag.

Detail of fingers emerging through a torn map of the Atlantic, pointing toward northwest Africa.

Her personal story becomes a collective mirror: that of a dispersed, fragmented, and largely unseen community whose existence persists between memory and the present. Although Mulaha has lived most of her life in Spain, she remains stateless—a condition that not only implies the absence of legal recognition but also the lack of a nationality that guarantees basic rights taken for granted by others. Within her coexist the country where she lives and the one that survives in her language, memories, and roots. Next year, after twenty-four years, Mulaha will finally be able to obtain a Spanish passport, which will allow her, among other things, to move freely.

Poem from the book Devenir Seiba by the Sahrawi writer Tfarrab.

Mtmarfga means “relaxed” in Hassanía, an Arabic dialect spoken by the Sahrawi people. It refers to how women lie down at home—a simple gesture that here symbolizes persistence, resistance, and visibility. The project restores this silent existence, showing that, despite adversity, the Sahrawi people continue to exist, reclaiming their memory, identity, and right to be seen.

"Those who try to occupy the desert will be swallowed by the sand".

When I asked her:
—Where would you like to go once you get Spanish citizenship?
She replied:
—Honestly, I haven’t thought about it, but without a doubt I want to explore Africa."

Mtmarfga

Mulaha Focu Yuli (29)

Ainhoa Ezkurra (1988) is a Spanish visual artist based between Barcelona and Formentera. With a background in cinematography, she works on independent and editorial projects, focusing on empathetic portraiture, traditions, and social change. Her photography explores stereotypes, collective memory, and plural identities, seeking humanistic beauty in everyday moments.