Meet Najib Joe Hakim | Social Documentary and Art Photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Najib Joe Hakim and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Najib Joe, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
When I was 30 years old and living in the DC suburbs, I bought a motorcycle and embarked on a solo journey across the country. This meandering road trip through the South and Southwest helped me realize we never really “arrive” in life, that we are always on a journey. So that is how I resolved to live my life. Aside from the obvious excitements of traveling by motorcycle, the most important element is your extreme vulnerability. Your senses become keen to adventure and danger. And what can be more adventurous and dangerous in a career than pursuing a life as an independent artist? Once I felt comfortable in my artistic, photographic and people skills, I no longer worked for someone else. And devoted all my time for my own work and causes.

One of the most important lessons I’ve learned is how vital self-confidence – based on experience, preparation and knowing your core values – is to succeed at anything.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
As a documentary and art photographer, my work is not usually in the mainstream. Truth, justice, passion are my muses. Social and political causes. I’m wired to swim upstream like salmon. This keeps me juiced. Otherwise, it’s just about money – and there are certainly infinitely more lucrative ways to get it than photography and art. For me the reward is knowing that my efforts are leading to the greater good. We live in a new dark age in which civilian lives are dehumanized; and atavistic fears send us scurrying toward our basest natures. In such times, we artists are challenged to help remind us of our loftier, sacred and shared aspirations.

My core cause is justice for Palestine. I’ve done several documentary and art projects relating to that subject: Born among Mirrors, The Map is Not the Territory, Palestine Diary and most recently an as yet unnamed body of digital collages. But what I am most proud of is successfully taking on Home Away from Home: Little Palestine by the Bay – which is something I’ve thought and dreamed about since I was young.

HOME is a multimedia project in which I made portraits of Bay Area Palestinians and provided a platform for them to tell their stories in their own voices. It is about literally giving voice to a community that has long been denied one in the US. The premise is very simple – if you could hear the actual voice of the storyteller while looking into their eyes, the connection will be more intimate and profound. The audio component is enabled with QR codes scan-able by mobile phones and are placed inside or beside each image.

Members of this community relate many of their personal stories as immigrants, refugees, or visiting their homeland for the first time. They also describe how and why they maintain ties to and aspirations for Palestine; and how they reconcile this with life in a country whose political culture is so profoundly hostile to those aspirations.

The project has been exhibited on both coasts as well as Britain and Germany.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
In and around San Francisco, there are many, many fun things to do. I know some off-the-beaten-path trails through redwood forests a 30 minute drive from the city. (They will remain unidentified!) And there is, of course, world class food from around the planet, much still affordable. One of my favorites is a Thai restaurant I’ve eaten at for 35 years – Manora’s. Many of the same people still work there all this time! Bars that are over 100 years old with old time patrons and live music. (Also to remain unnamed.) Last, but not least, I’d take them to Giants games.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
After being laid off from a tech job way back in 1990, I felt lost, adrift. One day I went to see a Paul Strand photo exhibition in San Francisco. I had always like Strand’s work, but this exhibition expanded my knowledge of his photography, work ethic, experimentation and his social/political sensibilities. He seamlessly melded art and politics in ways I had never seen before. I was reminded of my childhood dream of being a photographer, and now I was inspired by it again. Yet without the vital encouragement, love and sacrifices from my partner of 33 years, Laurie Coyle, I may not have had the perseverance to succeed.

Website: www.JaffaOrangePhoto.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JaffaOrangePhotography/

Image Credits
NJH portrait by Laurie Coyle