"PILGRIMAGE"

Antaki’s Pilgrimage was created in 2019, just before the pandemic, but its focus on human connection and cultural exchange became even more meaningful during the social distancing of 2020–2021. In this series—an exploration of shared identity—people are gathered in group portraits that combine raw, documentary-style moments with carefully arranged settings, highlighting both collective bonds and individual stories.

A key element of Pilgrimage is its subtle portrayal of cultural diversity. Through clothing, posture, and small gestures, each photograph shows the energy of people sharing the same space, while still reflecting their different backgrounds. By spacing individuals evenly and using bold colors, the artist demonstrates how our personal uniqueness and our sense of belonging can go hand in hand—proving that true unity grows from, rather than cancels out, our differences.

Created during a time of major disruptions in travel and public life, Pilgrimage mirrors a world rethinking the importance of face-to-face encounters. Its balanced scenes spark hope for human resilience, showing that standing together can be both a record of how we’ve adapted and a look at the paths we might yet follow.

At its core, Pilgrimage merges art and anthropology, inviting the viewer into a realm where cultural nuance, personal narrative, and collective experience converge. By emphasizing moments of communal stillness, the artist prompts reflection on what it means to come together—and what is lost when we do not. Whether seen as a commemoration of preexisting ties or a gesture of newly forged unity, each group portrait speaks to the abiding human impulse to find common ground.

Pilgrimage is a call to remember that amid the flux of global change, the capacity for shared warmth remains, uniting strangers in scenes of quiet beauty and hopeful resolve.