Cats of The Medinas

These photos are completely unedited and in their original format.

“Cats of The Medinas” is a collection of photographs from inside or nearby several Tunisian city medinas. Medinas are historic, walled off towns usually defining the “center” or main area of a city. For example, the Tunis medina is a roughly circular shape with few entrances and limited access for vehicle traffic. Narrow streets converge and diverge at random, creating a maze effect for tourists and other newcomers. A medina typically contains a variety of structures including mosques, residential buildings, independent stores, restaurants, and strips of shops often referred to as “souks”.

The cats featured here were photographed without provocation or incentive to “pose”. Most cats are independent street cats, but a few have some relationship to a nearby home or shop. The difference may be obvious, street cats were usually filthier, had some untreated health condition, or other physical marker of its street status.

Some cats I passed by were in a condition too disturbing to photograph for my purposes. One cat appeared to have both ears cut off, a few cats were missing tails, eyes, etc. While I understand the importance and value of photography for political and activist ends, neither goal was part of this particular project. Allow me to bear the emotional weight of those images for you.