Through Strangers, She Found Herself: The Journey of Malikaptures
In October 2022, Malika packed her life into a bag and walked into the unknown. No map, no rigid plan – just a longing for connection and the courage to follow it. She left northern France behind and began traveling, camera in hand, not yet knowing that what she was really chasing wasn’t landscapes or landmarks, but people.
She didn’t train formally. She didn’t wait until she felt ready. Photography became something she lived into, one step, one conversation, one shared smile at a time.
“People are what move me.”
Malika doesn’t photograph for perfection. She photographs so she doesn’t forget. The images she creates are portraits of humanity in its rawest form – glances, silences, small joys, shared spaces. There’s nothing decorative in her work. She doesn’t pose people or orchestrate moments. She simply meets them – openly, instinctively – and lets the emotion guide the frame.
“When I walk through a new place, I go towards people without thinking.” It’s instinctive, almost vital. Like an inner call, she says.
“When I walk through a new place, I go towards people without thinking.” It’s instinctive, almost vital. Like an inner call, she says.
“The Story is in the Meeting”
There’s no script behind Malika’s work. No pre-written story to force into a frame. Instead, her photographs are shaped by presence – being there, being open, being real.
She often hears the same question: How do you approach strangers? What if they say no?
She laughs. “I just go. I ask. And if they say no, we still talk, we still laugh. The photo is just one part of the moment.”
And that’s what her work captures – the full texture of being human. The refusal and the smile. The look in someone’s eyes that says thank you for seeing me. Her camera is just a tool. The real image begins long before she lifts it.
She often hears the same question: How do you approach strangers? What if they say no?
She laughs. “I just go. I ask. And if they say no, we still talk, we still laugh. The photo is just one part of the moment.”
And that’s what her work captures – the full texture of being human. The refusal and the smile. The look in someone’s eyes that says thank you for seeing me. Her camera is just a tool. The real image begins long before she lifts it.
“Photographs That Stay With Her”
When Malika looks back at her photographs, they’re not trophies – they’re touchstones. They bring her back to a street, a laugh, a moment she might have lost. They remind her that she stepped out alone and kept walking. That she crossed borders, not just on maps, but in herself.
“These powerful encounters have left their mark on my memory,” she says. “They reflect how I feel the world.”
Each image she makes is a part of that memory. And when others look at them, they’re invited into the connection too.
“These powerful encounters have left their mark on my memory,” she says. “They reflect how I feel the world.”
Each image she makes is a part of that memory. And when others look at them, they’re invited into the connection too.
“Breathing Through the Lens”
Her life is shaped by movement. She’s always been someone who’s had to start again. But in photography, she found something constant: a way to connect. To feel. To breathe.
Her images remind us that strangers aren’t so strange. That we can approach each other without performance or fear. That even if a photo never happens, the moment still matters.
Malika Abdellaoui photographs to remember. And through her eyes, we’re reminded of the unguarded ways people show up – for each other, and for the world. She is, without a doubt, one of the Rare Storytellers.
Her images remind us that strangers aren’t so strange. That we can approach each other without performance or fear. That even if a photo never happens, the moment still matters.
Malika Abdellaoui photographs to remember. And through her eyes, we’re reminded of the unguarded ways people show up – for each other, and for the world. She is, without a doubt, one of the Rare Storytellers.
The pictures and perspectives expressed above are those of the author(s) alone and do not represent the views of Rare Storyteller or its team.
to the world.