Picture My ants (1)

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Sameer Kermalli

Of Indian extraction, Sameer Kermalli was born in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, where he still lives. His first camera – a Fujifilm 110 – followed him throughout his school years. Before leaving for university in Ankara, Turkey, his father gave him an Olympus. When he returned to Tanzania Kermalli worked as a publisher for a printing company and collaborated on a local airline’s inflight magazine. At that point he invested in the Nikon DSLR that has never left him since. He has been a freelance photographer since 2009.

In this series Kermalli used a macro lens – the exact opposite of customary photo-safari techniques.
“I was pouring myself a glass of rose juice when a tiny drop of the syrup trickled down the bottle and onto the counter. Just a single little drop, but enough to feed about a hundred ants. The scout ant arrived first, had a taste and went home to tell the others about the treasure it had discovered. Within a few seconds there was a line of ants going to the drop and back, their abdomens filled with sugary water. The line was black in one direction and red in the other – it took me a while to figure out that the colour came from the syrup the ants were swallowing. Most houses in Dar es Salaam are “blessed” with visits from little black. They are seen wherever there is water or food. When the weather is warm they forage around, looking for crumbs they take back to their homes in the cracks in the concrete houses. During extremely hot weather, they appear to prefer water. I have seen them surround a glass of icy water covered in condensation to collect drops and take them home. I wonder what they do with it… I love nature and I’m fascinated by these micro-events. At one point there is no longer enough room around the drop, so the ants climb on top of each other to get what they can. They don’t do this out of greed, but to collect water for the ants who have not yet arrived. I often observe ants going about their occupations and I marvel at the lessons for life they provide.
My ants and I live together. I am glad to leave them crumbs, sometimes by mistake, sometimes intentionally. In turn they clean up by picking up many things I didn’t even realise were there.”