Bitter Sweet Soft by Bernat Millet is a quiet and deeply human portrait of life in the Sahrawi refugee camps of Algeria. Rather than concentrating on images of conflict or suffering, Millet turns his camera towards the intimate details of everyday life: family, friendship, work, children and the spaces in which people wait, live and preserve a sense of identity.
The photographs were made over a long period of time using a large format camera, giving the project a contemplative quality that suits its subject particularly well. Millet's portraits avoid easy sentimentality. There is dignity in the way his subjects are photographed, but also a palpable sense of uncertainty and suspended time. The desert becomes both a physical environment and a metaphor for a community whose future remains unresolved.
One of the most interesting aspects of the book is its structure. It has two beginnings and can be read from either side, reflecting its bilingual and multicultural conception. The Western reading begins from the left, while the Arabic reading begins from the right, with an additional section providing the English translation of the texts. This physical structure reinforces the idea of two perspectives meeting within the same book.
The result is a restrained and emotionally powerful photobook about resilience, memory and belonging. Bitter Sweet Soft is less interested in explaining the Sahrawi experience than in allowing us to spend time within it. Millet's photographs find moments of tenderness and beauty in an environment marked by displacement and waiting, making this a particularly thoughtful example of contemporary Spanish documentary photography.
For collectors of Independent photobooks and Photography Books dealing with social and political realities, it is also an interesting title because it was the first photobook published by Editorial Lumínic and was produced through a crowdfunding campaign with a limited edition of 500 copies.