A personal study of people, place, and the emotional experience of the world around us.
Photography has long been a way of observing, connecting, and understanding the human experience.
The images presented here are drawn from People, a black-and-white photography series created and published by Maruka Tarabay as an exploration of human character, presence, and connection. The work grew from a belief that photography can communicate across language and culture—capturing something of a person's essence through gesture, expression, environment, and the brief exchange between observer and subject.
Many of the photographs were made within the subjects' own surroundings, where place becomes part of the portrait. Together, the images explore both the visual and emotional dimensions of experience: people, light, context, culture, and the quiet moments that reveal something about how we inhabit the world.
Though created independently of Katara's design work, this practice of looking closely continues to inform the studio's perspective today—an attentiveness to people, place, atmosphere, and the often subtle relationship between our surroundings and how we experience them.
 Summertime I, Santa Cruz |  Havasupai Boy I, Arizona |  Havasupai Girl, Arizona |
|---|---|---|
 Havasupai Boy II, Arizona |  Pequeño Cottolengo III, Estado Lara |  Julio Cesar, Cumaná |
 Pequeño Cottolengo I, Estado Lara |  Plaza César Chávez I, Sacramento |  Mercado Municipal I, Cumaná |
 Santa María II, Chivacoa |  Santa María I, Chivacoa |  Plaza César Chávez II, Sacramento |
 Pequeño Cottolengo II, Estado Lara |  Marco Antonio, Barquisimeto |  Padre Sergio y Matushka |
 Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacion |  Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacion |  Instrument II, Sacramento |
 Alfarero, Oaxaca |  Arepera, Chivacoa |  Capitol Park, Sacramento |
 Pequeño Cottolengo III, Estado Lara |  Mercado Municipal II, Cumaná |  Puesto de Frutas, Cumaná |
 Caña de azúcar I, Cumaná |  Casabe de Yuca, Via Puerto La Cruz |  Cauchero, Barquisimeto |
 Mecánico, Barquisimeto |
Original Artist's Statement | 2010
“Art becomes meaningful because it has the power to express important things that would, in all likelihood, remain unstated, or stated in less coherent or moving ways in any other language.”
— Sam Hunter & Daniel Wheeler, 2004
I truly believe that art is a language—one that communicates in a universal and deeply human way, regardless of the observer's native language. It can convey emotions and ideas in a more direct and honest way than we are often comfortable expressing through the spoken word.
Photography is that language for me. What I find most fascinating is the possibility that, at any moment and anywhere in the world, I can reach out to another person and, regardless of the language they speak, capture something of their essence in a matter of seconds.
People is an attempt to connect with the world. It is my way of sharing with the viewer some of the characters I have encountered along my path.
As an interior architect, I am interested in two very important dimensions of the environment: the visual and the emotional. Through photography, I have had the opportunity to meet extraordinary people and photograph them within their own surroundings—the places where they feel most at ease—capturing something of what they wished to communicate at that particular moment.
My photographs have been described as “portrait/journalism,” and stylistically, they may fit within that description. My intention through photography, however, is something more personal: to interpret and express realities through the lens of human values and experiences.
— Maruka Tarabay, 2010