Akila Berjaoui grew up by the sea. Born in New South Wales, Australia, to a Lebanese father and an Australian mother, she spent her early childhood in Beirut. “We lived on The Corniche, right on the Mediterranean Sea. For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved the beach, but there was an artificiality to it because you had to pay to access it. You shouldn’t have to pay for the beach, ever.” In 1984, they moved back to New South Wales. “That was totally different. Endless golden beaches stretching as far as the eye can see, topless women and girls, beach bikini contests. The freedom of it all. I was in heaven.”

The beach is at the heart of her forthcoming photography book, The Possible Dream (published by Prestel), a collection of sunlit landscapes and sensual portraits made across the Greek Cyclades, the Balearics, Italy and Tunisia. Building on her previous book, The Last Days of Summer (2017), this one was made after Covid, over the summers 2020 to 2025. “I discovered these silent landscapes, without any tourism, and felt this overwhelming sense of gratitude.”

Where her previous work focused on early afternoon light, this new series moves later into the day, from around 5pm onwards, “when the light is more dramatic,” she says. Berjaoui often spent two to three hours walking each day in search of the most secluded places to shoot. Working with Portra 400, a grainy film which holds the heavy warmth of late afternoon sun, she captures a particular bodily state: “When you’ve been baking all day, and all you want is to get in the water, and reset. Water is the ultimate healer.”

Across the pages, figures walk the shore, stretch out in the sun or wade into the water. Many are locals she met while travelling, often photographed in the nude. The images carry a sensuality that feels both simple and magnetic. “I’m often told I’m a sensual person, so maybe that comes through in the way I direct,” she says. “I also think my love for bodies, all bodies, comes from an oppressive upbringing. My father was very controlling; he monitored everything I wore. I often felt ashamed of my body. Only now, I’m realising I’m drawn to women’s bodies because I want to reclaim those lost years.”

Confidence is what attracts her most in a person. “Like Johanna", she says, pointing to a portrait of a Greek woman whom she met in a shop. Berjaoui was immediately struck by her beauty and ease. Another series follows Malina and Amos, a couple she travelled with in Italy aboard a vintage yacht. “We shot on completely inaccessible beaches; you had to swim to shore. Malina ran around naked; she was so free.” The book also includes shots of her now ex-boyfriend: “My love for him at the time is reflected here. They’re very personal and intimate photos of a passionate and chaotic period in my life.”

Some portraits feel straight out of Eric Rohmer’s Pauline à la Plage, which Berjaoui cites as an influence. Film has long shaped her visual language. Before photography, she worked as a stylist and noticed her moodboards were always pulled from the cinema. “Lately, I’ve been going through perimenopause and feeling really nostalgic”, she says, “I’m revisiting films from my youth like Candy with Heath Ledger, or Cate Shortland’s Somersault. That feeds a lot into my work.”

Her landscapes, meanwhile, are pared back and elemental, exposing the muted tones of the Mediterranean coast. “I’ve always been drawn to these arid, rocky lands. They are reminiscent of my childhood in Lebanon," she explains. The Cyclades, in particular, felt familiar through their olive trees: “Lebanon and Palestine are home to olive trees said to be over 6,000 years old, though they’re now being completely destroyed.”

Berjaoui has been vocal in her support for Palestine, which has cost her work and followers. “I don’t regret it,” she says. “I’m going to keep speaking out and dreaming of a world no longer broken by violence, genocide, injustice and our own maximalism. I hope these photographs encourage people to embrace a simpler way of living, shaped by land, season, water, rest, and pleasure. The Possible Dream is exactly that: a possible dream”.

The Possible Dream by Akila Berjaoui is published by Prestel on 5 May, and is available to pre-order now.