Face off is an ongoing project depicting bearded men in Pakistan. My impression was that wearing a beard in Pakistan transmits all kind of wrongful feelings : “extremist”, “dangerous”, “hostile”. Then I wanted to capture portraits of those men, to go beyond the cliché : one serious and an other one smiling that kind of force us to empathize.

Millions of men in Pakistan wear a beard, there are clerics as well as policemen, politicians, architects or vendors. It is first a matter of religion, but as well, a sign of authority, manhood and there is a definite pride in wearing it, as many take good care of it, shape it or color it.