About

Djamal Benmokhtar (b. 1968, Algeria)
French-Algerian documentary photographer based in Tenerife, Spain.

At age five, Djamal fled Algeria with his family to escape political persecution. His father, a would-be photographer, gave him his first camera — sparking a lifelong search for identity and belonging through images.

In the 1990s, he volunteered with Aviation Sans Frontières during the Angolan civil war and with Médecins Sans Frontières during Hurricane Mitch. These early humanitarian experiences shaped his deep commitment to long-form visual storytelling.

While training as a pilot, he began photographing the rise of mass tourism — work that evolved into Le Voyage, a long-term project exploring both leisure travel and forced migration between Africa and Europe.

Since 2021, he has documented the lives of five African migrants arriving in the Canary Islands. In collaboration with Doctors of the World, he exhibited Le Voyage in Gran Canaria in 2024, on the very shores where many migrants first land.

During the pandemic, he published Confined in the Sky in El Mundo, and in 2023, Aviation Chronicles appeared in Revue EPIC. His work has been recognized by LensCulture's B/W Photography Awards and featured in El País.

Djamal is currently working on a new project about Roma (gypsy) women in Tenerife, documenting their lives, resilience, and cultural identity.

His photography weaves together exile, migration, and memory — blending personal history with global human narratives.