This photograph was made in participation with the Lost in Transition project by Yassine Rachidi and Amy Douglas Morris, which follows retired postman Mohsen Lihidheb (Momo)’s collection of the lost objects of migrants along the coast of Zarzis in the southeast of Tunisia. The graffiti refers to a poem by Naguib Sorour (an Egyptian communist poet, director, and critic who was imprisoned for his radical ideas), more popularly recognized as a song by Sheikh Imam (a radical Egyptian composer, singer, and political prisoner who spoke out against corruption and oppression in 1960s Egypt).

The image was taken in Mohsen’s garden in Zarzis, Tunis. Above the pile of personal belongings, the inscription "Why is the sea laughing?" reads with bitter irony, personifying the sea as an uncontainable force that does not resist human struggle. An eerie reminder of the lives lost at sea, the verse also speaks to the longue durée of colonialism in the Maghreb which continues to haunt the present.