Every Love Has Its Landscape | Maxine Pennington

I have been living in Siwa Oasis, Egypt, for two years now, documenting my experience through photography and sound. This project is an exploration of place, connection, and memory through the lens of love—an attempt to understand how landscapes shape us, hold us, and teach us.

At its heart, Every Love Has Its Landscape is a meditation on reverence: reverence for the land of Siwa and its unique, magnetic energy; for the deep-rooted spirit of its people; for the way community, tradition, and nature weave together here in quiet harmony. Meeting a place to meet myself. 

Here, the desert teaches me to listen. The atmosphere feels sacred—alive. As Alice Maddicott writes in Tender Maps, “Atmosphere was far more complex and profound than I had ever imagined. It was key. It was the heart, the essence—yet fluid, alive, and changing.” I have come to see the atmosphere as the evolving soul of a place—a silent language waiting to be heard. 

Nature has long been one of my greatest teachers. In Siwa, this bond deepens. The land imprints itself on me, and I leave quiet traces in return. Through this exchange, I’ve come to ask: What does it mean to belong? How do we find—or create—a space where we can truly root, grow, and feel held? 

For me, this is an act of devotion—a continuous journey of returning to myself, of honouring both the seen and unseen. At times, I’ve felt lost or unmoored—but even in those moments, there has been beauty. There has been transformation. As Michael B. Beckwith writes in Spiritual Liberation, “Declare that you are an adventurer in consciousness.” 

Every Love Has Its Landscape is a love letter—to the desert, to stillness, and to the beauty of becoming.