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Alia Refaat: Bali Island of Odalan

Here are work samples from Alia Refaat, the final participant in the Bali: Island of Odalan Photo~Expedition ™ . It is Alia's second travel photography expedition, and she plans a series of exhibitions in Cairo of her photographs.

Alia is a commercial photographer from Cairo, Egypt. Alia studied Mass Communications, and trained at Spéos Paris in commercial, portrait and studio photography.

The above photograph is of Balinese devotees returning from the ocean having purified their temple's deities. The all day ceremony was performed near the famous temple of Goah Lawah.


The above intriguing photograph is of Balinese playing Kocokan. This is a sort of roulette in which the players put some money on a vinyl mat decorated with six different pictures of cartoon version of Hindu gods, demons or animals. Surprisingly, this gambling is allowed during a temple odalan.


Cremations are one of the most sacred events in Balinese culture. In this photography, Alia was quick to notice the rather macabre juxtaposing of the body's exhumation and the t-shirt worn by one of the cremation's attendees.