Nabil Darwish

#WorldBank External Affairs Officer, #Portrait #Photographer & Visual #Storyteller, #Creative Director, with a Love for LIFE. © 1997-2026 All rights Reserved

[Nabil Darwish @ndarwish]

view full #portrait #photography series:

https://t.co/SD7AIdj6zv

[Nabil Darwish @ndarwish]

indices of now
/ˈɪndɪsiːz əv naʊ/

there is a growing tendency to measure everything.
progress through indices.
success through numbers.
worth through metrics.
places become statistics.
people become categories.

yet behind every index sits a face.
a story.
a life that refuses to fit neatly within what is counted.

walking through mosul, i found myself less interested in what could be measured, & more interested in what could not.
a glance.
a presence.
a dignity carried without announcement.

these portraits are not indices.
they are reminders of what exists beyond them.
because no soul was ever meant to be reduced to a number, a fraction, or a label in order to be understood.

& perhaps the most important things about a person are the very things no index can hold.
for beyond every number, fraction, & measure, there remains something greater.

presence itself, & the ability to be seen as human.

___________________________
#photography by nabil darwish, copyright 2026 all rights reserved.
location: #mosul, #iraq
___________________________

#visualstorytelling, #photography, #portrait, #streetportrait, #streetphotography,

[Nabil Darwish @ndarwish]

exposed
/ɪkˈspoʊzd/

exposure is often mistaken for being seen,
for attention, for recognition, for the need to be acknowledged.

but there is a strength that does not move toward any of that.
it stands.
not to be accepted,
not to be affirmed,
but because it has already settled within itself.

a quiet certainty.

the kind that does not search for validation,
because it is already holding its own weight.

before anyone can stand for others,
there is a point where one learns to stand alone,
fully, without negotiation.
and in that, something remains intact.

identity, not shaped by the need to be received,
but carried without asking for permission.
this is not resistance.
this is alignment.

so what measure of exposure is held,
when nothing within needs to be seen?

___________________________
#streetphotography by nabil darwish, copyright 2026 all rights reserved.
location: #amman, #jordan
___________________________

#visualstorytelling, #photography, #portrait, #streetportrait, #storytelling, #life

[Nabil Darwish @ndarwish]

life remembraned

most move within a form that feels natural, simply because it has never been interrupted.

through windows held by structures, vision is defined by how much is allowed to be seen.

frames settle into perception. edges become boundaries. and over time, what is partial begins to feel whole.

till the truth of the outer-nature begins to shift.
the frame no longer holds the same authority. the view no longer convinces.
to which at that moment, it is not the outside that changes. it is the position from which it is seen.

remembrance that comes forward is not new. it is what was never framed.
the true face of self, unshaped, unassigned, unmoved by what tried to define it.

and here, clarity remembered cannot be undone.

_____________________________
#photography & #visualart by nabil darwish, copyright 2026 all rights reserved
location: #amman #jordan
_____________________________

#art #visualstorytelling #ContemporaryArt #fineartphotography #conceptualphotography #urbanabstraction #perception

[Nabil Darwish @ndarwish]

goodness - lived

in al-salt, between stone that has memorised generations, there are conversations that stay longer than photographs.

i met um ghazi.
she stood in the narrow street, freshly baking traditional sweets, not as a performance, but as continuation.
her presence did not ask for attention. it carried it.

passers by stopped. not only for the sweets made, but for the directness in her gaze, the kind that does not pretend. the kind that has seen enough to speak plainly.

i asked her one question.
what makes a good person these days?

she did not hesitate. “اخلاقه”. his manners. his character. the way that one conducts themselves when no one is measuring.
then she added what only someone seasoned by life would say. “اتقِ شر من أحسنت إليه”.
be mindful, even of the one you were good to.
not fear. awareness.
because goodness is not blindness. it is clarity with restraint.
it is knowing that kindness does not promise return, and choosing it anyway.

there are people who have witnessed enough to harden.
yet they refuse to.
that refusal is not softness.
it is discipline of the soul.
character that does not bend,
simply because the world does.

___________________________
#streetphotography by nabil darwish, copyright 2026 all rights reserved.
location: #alsalt, #jordan
___________________________

#storytelling, #visualstorytelling, #lensculture, #natgeocreative, #natgeotravel, #photography, #people, #natgeo, #worldpressphoto, #magnumphotos, #portrait, #opensociety, #vii, #viiphoto, #documentaryphotography, #storytelling, #thephotosociety, #art, #portraitphotography, #yourshotphotographer, #noorimages, #visualart, #life, #blackandwhite, #streetportrait

[Nabil Darwish @ndarwish]

goodness
/ɡʊdnəs/

we speak of good people as if goodness is an accessory.
a tone of voice.
a gesture.
a performance for the public eye.

but goodness is not surface.
it is structure.

in al-salt, between stone walls that have outlived empires,
i asked um ghazi a simple question,
what makes a good person these days?

she did not hesitate by stating it boldly, “اخلاقه”.

his manners. his ethics. his way of being.
then she said something heavier than the street around us: “اتقِ شر من أحسنت إليه”.
be cautious of the harm of the one you were good to.
not because goodness is weakness.
but because goodness reveals character, yours and theirs.

to be good today is not to be naive.
it is to choose ethics without applause.
to carry decency even when it is not returned.
to remain rooted when trust has been shaken.

goodness is not softness.
it is discipline of the soul.

and in a time that tests people daily,
to hold on to character,
is a form of strength,
few speak about.

___________________________
#streetphotography by nabil darwish, copyright 2026 all rights reserved.
location: #alsalt, #jordan
___________________________

#storytelling, #visualstorytelling, #lensculture, #natgeocreative, #natgeotravel, #photography, #people, #natgeo, #worldpressphoto, #magnumphotos, #portrait, #opensociety, #vii, #viiphoto, #documentaryphotography, #storytelling, #thephotosociety, #art, #portraitphotography, #yourshotphotographer, #noorimages, #visualart, #life, #blackandwhite, #streetportrait

[Nabil Darwish @ndarwish]

#VisualArt : Space In Between

so, how do you see yourself, in this vast In between?
feet solid on the ground, or floating in a stream?
how do you see yourself, in a horizon that can only be yours?
how do you see yourself in truth, that is yours?

#visualstorytelling
#ammanjo
#Jordan

[Nabil Darwish @ndarwish]

outliving ruins
.
there are places the world reduced to headlines.
places where silence speaks louder than memory.
but in #mosul,
on a street still trying to remember what it once was,
i found something the news never stayed long enough to see.
a child.
his grandfather.
a smile carved through what war could not erase.
.
i asked him,
what makes you smile in the morning?
he didn’t say luck.
he didn’t say forgetting.
he said peace of mind.
he said smiling, not because everything is fine,
but because it’s the only way to face what isn’t.
.
they lost everything.
but not the way they stand.
not the way they open the door to a stranger,
or raise a child in the midst of dust and ruin.
they hold on, not with fists, but with presence.
.
what stays isn’t survival.
it’s the will to choose life again
even after it was stolen.
to wake up,
to reach for meaning in the smallest gestures,
to smile back,
not because it’s easy,
but because you chose not to vanish.
.
___________________________
#photography / #videography by nabil darwish, copyright 2025 all rights reserved.
location: mosul, #iraq
music by: @bienbienbienbienbien
___________________________
.
#storytelling, #visualstorytelling, #lensculture, #natgeocreative, #people, #natgeo, #worldpressphoto, #magnumphotos, #portrait, #viiphoto, #documentaryphotography, #art, #portraitphotography, #yourshotphotographer, #streetlife, #streetportrait, #arab, #blackandwhite

[Nabil Darwish @ndarwish]

fractures
/ˈfraktʃəs/

fractures come uninvited.
no warning, no preparation, just the quiet reshaping of what once was whole.

a little girl, looking toward the one holding a lens of a time frame. still, wondering what he sees through this “norm” placed over something far more fragile than it appears.

in the way her brother shifts in his seat holding pieces no one ever offered glue for.

the cracks don’t ask for healing, they ask to be lived through, carried, understood.

yet, there is a choice in what remains, not to disguise the scars, but to carry them as proof, proof that one did not disappear.

this isn’t about forgetting, nor about pretending to be beyond what was taken, it’s about moving through what broke, & still choosing, to feel life, fully, & never look away, or be unseen.

___________________________
#photography by nabil darwish, copyright 2025 all rights reserved.
from photography series: life fractures
poetry by: @briwritespoetry
___________________________

#storytelling, #visualstorytelling, #lensculture, #natgeocreative, #people, #natgeo, #worldpressphoto, #magnumphotos, #portrait, #viiphoto, #documentaryphotography, #art, #portraitphotography, #yourshotphotographer, #streetlife, #streetportrait, #arab, #blackandwhite

[Nabil Darwish @ndarwish]

timed stillness is no state of notion, but a conscious choice to halt.

#streetphotography
#VisualArt
#ammanjo

[Nabil Darwish @ndarwish]

it is at moments of choice when we realise how far we must have that crazy spark pushed within us to be able to sustain our sanity.

#streetphotography
#blackandwhite
#Jordan
#streetportrait

[Nabil Darwish @ndarwish]

grow
/ɡroʊ/

what’s the rush, anyway?
we sprint through seconds,
chasing tomorrows that vanish into yesterdays.
counting moments instead of feeling them.

but what if we paused?
let the silence speak,
let stillness be our guide.
not as an escape,
but as a return.

growth isn’t in the haste.
it’s in the quiet.
in the space between the noise,
where we choose to breathe,
to feel,
to simply be.

to grow
isn’t to race forward.
it’s to deepen.
to root.
to rise, when ready.

so, what’s the rush, anyway?

___________________________
#photography by nabil darwish, copyright 2025 all rights reserved.
location: #amman, #jordan
poetry by: @briwritespoetry
___________________________

#streetphotography, #storytelling, #visualstorytelling, #lensculture, #natgeocreative, #natgeotravel, #people, #natgeo, #worldpressphoto, #magnumphotos, #portrait, #viiphoto, #documentaryphotography, #art, #portraitphotography, #yourshotphotographer, #streetlife, #streetportrait, #arab, #blackandwhite,

[Nabil Darwish @ndarwish]

volo
/ˈwoʊ.loʊ/

to be
is not merely to exist.
it is to stand still in a world that keeps turning its gaze,
and still choose to see.

to not be -
that’s the easier route,
to let the weight of it all pass through you,
leave you hollow,
unmoved,
undisturbed.
but what kind of peace is that?

there is courage
in the one who dares to pause
and ask:
is there another way?
another breath worth taking,
another dream worth holding?

because dreaming here
is a dangerous kind of hope -
one that requires
not softness,
but will.
not silence,
but the steady whisper of “i’m still here.”

to choose
is not about escape.
it is an act of presence.
a refusal to be undone.

so when the world turns its head,
will you turn away too?
or will you stay long enough
to see what still dares to be?

___________________________
#photography by nabil darwish, copyright 2025 all rights reserved.
location: #baqa’a camp, #jordan
music by: @billieeilish / acoustic - lovely
___________________________

#streetphotography, #storytelling, #visualstorytelling, #lensculture, #natgeocreative, #natgeotravel, #people, #natgeo, #worldpressphoto, #magnumphotos, #portrait, #viiphoto, #documentaryphotography, #art, #portraitphotography, #yourshotphotographer, #streetlife, #streetportrait, #arab, #blackandwhite, #refugee

[Nabil Darwish @ndarwish]

fixed bliss
/ˈfɪkst ˈblɪs/

they say solitude is a fix, and ease of mind is a bliss.
but what if the mind is never at ease?
what if the weight of reality is carried in the details-
the cracks in the walls, the hands worn by time, the silence between voices.

since 1968, baqa’a has stood as more than a place.
began as a 1.4 square km stretch, a sea of white tents pitched against the winds,
meant to be a pause, a passing shelter for those displaced.
but time does not ask for permission to settle,
& what was temporary became home to over 120,000 lives.

walls rose where fabric once swayed,
corridors of concrete carrying the weight of decades,
narrow alleyways tracing stories of generations born into waiting.
what was meant to be brief expanded, swelled,
pressing against the limits of space,
a testament to the permanence of what was never meant to last.

walls rose where fabric once swayed,
corridors of concrete carrying the weight of decades,
narrow alleyways tracing stories of generations born into waiting.
life continued, even when the world looked away.
markets formed, classrooms filled, laughter echoed between patched rooftops,
and yet, the questions remained-
what does it mean to belong in a place that was never meant to be yours?
how do you find stillness in a space designed to be left behind?

here, resilience is not romantic;
it is the only way forward.
the hands that build, the voices that call,
the quiet rebellion of someone finding joy where it seems scarce.
to breathe deeply, even when the air carries the weight of the past.

if ease of mind is a privilege,
who decided who gets to have it?
and in a place built on impermanence,
what does it take to claim a moment of peace?

___________________________
#photography by nabil darwish, copyright 2025 all rights reserved.
location: #baqa’a camp, #jordan
music by: iamvraell
___________________________

#streetphotography, #storytelling, #visualstorytelling, #lensculture, #natgeocreative, #natgeotravel, #people, #natgeo, #worldpressphoto, #magnumphotos, #portrait, #viiphoto, #documentaryphotography, #art, #portraitphotography, #streetlife, #streetportrait, #arab, #blackandwhite, #refugee

[Nabil Darwish @ndarwish]

living yourself

we stand at the edge of choice,
not because the world holds us back,
but because we do.

fear is not placed upon us,
it is shaped by our hands,
built from the walls we tell ourselves exist.

but what happens when we step through?
when we strip away the weight of expectation,
when we recognize that the only thing stopping us
from living ourselves -
is us?

___________________________
#visualart #photography by nabil darwish, copyright 2025 all rights reserved.
location: #mujib, #jordan
___________________________

#streetphotography, #storytelling, #visualstorytelling, #lensculture, #natgeocreative, #natgeotravel, #photooftheday, #people, #natgeo, #worldpressphoto, #magnumphotos, #portrait, #opensociety, #vii, #viiphoto, #documentaryphotography, #storytelling, #thephotosociety, #art, #portraitphotography, #yourshotphotographer, #noorimages, #visualart, #streetlife, #streetportrait, #arab, #blackandwhite, #travel

[Nabil Darwish @ndarwish]

street photography series: incidence
/ ˈɪn sɪ dəns /

a degree, extent, or frequency of occurrence.
how often do you pass souls that’ve found brightness in a day?
and how often does this get noticed?

each face holds a moment - a fleeting spark of something we fail to name.
two young men sharing a laugh, a man lost in thought as the crowd moves around him, a figure perched high above, observing life as if detached, yet deeply part of it.

how often do we truly see? not just glance, but notice.
the laughter that breaks through the static, the weight of a single step amidst the rush, the quiet rebellion of someone finding joy where it seems scarce.

& when you see it, does it leave you unchanged?
or does it challenge you to see more, feel more, & become more?

___________________________
#photography by nabil darwish, copyright 2025 all rights reserved.
location: downtown #amman, #jordan
___________________________

#streetphotography, #storytelling, #visualstorytelling, #lensculture, #natgeocreative, #natgeotravel, #photooftheday, #people, #natgeo, #worldpressphoto, #magnumphotos, #portrait, #opensociety, #vii, #viiphoto, #documentaryphotography, #storytelling, #thephotosociety, #art, #portraitphotography, #yourshotphotographer, #noorimages, #visualart, #streetlife, #streetportrait, #arab, #blackandwhite, #travel

[Nabil Darwish @ndarwish]

street photography series: incidence
/ ˈɪn sɪ dəns /

a degree, extent, or frequency of occurrence.
how often do you pass souls that’ve found brightness in a day?
and how often does this get noticed?

each face holds a moment - a fleeting spark of something we fail to name.
two young men sharing a laugh, a man lost in thought as the crowd moves around him, a figure perched high above, observing life as if detached, yet deeply part of it.

how often do we truly see? not just glance, but notice.
the laughter that breaks through the static, the weight of a single step amidst the rush, the quiet rebellion of someone finding joy where it seems scarce.

& when you see it, does it leave you unchanged?
or does it challenge you to see more, feel more, & become more?

___________________________
#photography by nabil darwish, copyright 2025 all rights reserved.
location: downtown #amman, #jordan
___________________________

#streetphotography, #storytelling, #visualstorytelling, #lensculture, #natgeocreative, #natgeotravel, #photooftheday, #people, #natgeo, #worldpressphoto, #magnumphotos, #portrait, #opensociety, #vii, #viiphoto, #documentaryphotography, #storytelling, #thephotosociety, #art, #portraitphotography, #yourshotphotographer, #noorimages, #visualart, #streetlife, #streetportrait, #arab, #blackandwhite, #travel

[Nabil Darwish @ndarwish]

street photography series: incidence
/ ˈɪn sɪ dəns /

a degree, extent, or frequency of occurrence.
how often do you pass souls that’ve found brightness in a day?
and how often does this get noticed?

each face holds a moment - a fleeting spark of something we fail to name.
two young men sharing a laugh, a man lost in thought as the crowd moves around him, a figure perched high above, observing life as if detached, yet deeply part of it.

how often do we truly see? not just glance, but notice.
the laughter that breaks through the static, the weight of a single step amidst the rush, the quiet rebellion of someone finding joy where it seems scarce.

& when you see it, does it leave you unchanged?
or does it challenge you to see more, feel more, & become more?

___________________________
#photography by nabil darwish, copyright 2025 all rights reserved.
location: downtown #amman, #jordan
___________________________

#streetphotography, #storytelling, #visualstorytelling, #lensculture, #natgeocreative, #natgeotravel, #photooftheday, #people, #natgeo, #worldpressphoto, #magnumphotos, #portrait, #opensociety, #vii, #viiphoto, #documentaryphotography, #storytelling, #thephotosociety, #art, #portraitphotography, #yourshotphotographer, #noorimages, #visualart, #streetlife, #streetportrait, #arab, #blackandwhite, #travel