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Villages in the Palestinian Landscapes (1890s - 1930s)
École biblique

A collection of rare old photos documenting villages on the Palestinian lands between 1890s and 1930s. Since its creation, the École biblique has helped to pioneer biblical exegesis and archaeological research in Palestine, Israel and the neighboring regions. It has acquired great scholarly renown in the fields of epigraphy, Semitic linguistics, Assyriology, Egyptology, as well as in ancient history, geography, and ethnography.

Jean-Michel de Tarragon Born 1945 in France. He became a Catholic priest in 1972. Since 1973 he has been in East-Jerusalem as a permanent member of the French Ecole Biblique. He studied cuneiforms (PhD) and old canaanite languages, and he taught ancient history connected to the Bible. He participated in the archaeological digs of the Ecole Biblique since 1973, and became the assistant photographer of the archaeological activities of Ecole in Jordan and in the Gaza Strip. Retired from active teaching, he is now fully in charge of the photo-collection of the Ecole Biblique in Jerusalem.

Don’t shoot
López-Aparicio

The work of López-Aparicio is based on bringing empathy to the spectator and putting himself in other people’s shoes, this has led him to some very committed performances in order to build a strong image that denounces the breach of human rights. With very symbolic images hanging in front of the wall, from an olive tree (that link all Mediterranean areas) and in front of the Guernica graffiti that connects Spain with Palestine with just a shirt that asked not to be shot, in a place where so many Palestinians have died. An amazing installation with landscapes of Palestine and refugee camps in perspective and a video of the wall built a whole narrative.

López-Aparicio is a socially active artist that has had an important role in the development of politically and socially engaged art. He works as an international researcher, curator, Ph.D. professor of Fine Arts and member of the Institute of Research for Peace at the University of Granada, is on the Board of the Journal for Artistic Research (JAR) and founder of the Spanish Contemporary Artist Union and the Liberis Artium Universitas. He exhibited in museums, institutions, art galleries and art fairs throughout the world, having a presence from Tate London to Centre Pompidou to Spanish National Museum Reina Sofía. He is an author of numerous books, chapters, and articles, and regularly lectures in institutions and universities over the world.

Memory of Fragrant Oranges
Eman Haram

How do we retrieve memory of places obliterated and erased through the perpetual violence of settler colonialism. How can photography render what has been absent, present. Un-earth what has been buried? For Palestinian Canadian interdisciplinary artist , the photographic image is at the heart of this endeavor. Through a re-construction process that is anything but methodical; sifting through archival material of all sorts - objects, images, documents, audio and ephemera among others - intervening or dialoguing with them, to activate their latent temporality, collapsing the separation between the distant past and present. As such “Memory of Fragrant Oranges” is a poetic evocation and invocation of place, through a fragment which holds the keys to the larger story of this place, before the great plunder of 1948.

Haram holds B.Sc. in Architecture and M.A. in Art History with concentration in photography. Her projects, solo and collaborative, have been presented in Canada, Jordan, Palestine, Spain, Syria and Turkey. She is currently based between Montreal and Amman.

PALESTINE: Memories of 1948 - Photographs of Jerusalem
Chris Conti, Altair Alcctara

Seventy-one years ago, in 1948, the Nakba – the ‘catastrophe’ – overturned life in Palestine, forcing three-quarters of Palestinians into exile, depriving them of their land, their homes, their belongings. Today, those who can bear witness to that period are becoming rare. From different social backgrounds, men and women remember the coexistence that prevailed in Palestine, the war, the exile, as well as the strength and resilience which they had to muster to adapt to new realities. Life stories expressed in the first person are accompanied by black and white portraits where each look questions the coming generations. For every Palestinian, Jerusalem is charged with symbolic meaning, of identity, and of remembrance, the more so because it has become inaccessible to most. The city is made the focus of a compilation of color photographs presented for a contemporary look, between shadow and light.

Altair Alcântara has worked for magazines and book publishers for 30 years. He has been exhibited in Japan, India, Jordan, Turkey, France, and Brazil. As part of the international team working for the book Palestine: Memories of 1948 - Photographs of Jerusalem (Hesperus Press), his main contribution to this collective work is a collection of color photographs about today's Jerusalem.
Chris Conti has worked as a journalist for magazines and book publishers for more than 25 years, in English, French, and Spanish. Her contribution to the book Palestine: Memories of 1948 - Photographs of Jerusalem, published by Hesperus Press, has been to collect and write life narratives of Palestinian elders.

Confined Youth
Eleonora Sabet

Marka camp was established in 1968 to shelter 15,000 Palestinian refugees and displaced persons who left the West Bank and the Gaza Strip during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. Based on UNRWA data, the number of registered refugees in the camp is 44,879 and over 17,500 are displaced persons. Sabet got the chance to interview and photograph some of them, mainly a group of friends that call themselves a “gang”. Their gang is not like the ones we are used to imagining. Their gang was born and raised with the dream and hope to go back to their country, Palestine, but they have never been allowed to. They were born in a house that meant to be temporary, but in the end, it became permanent. They are lost in a limbo without possibilities and they don’t know what the future holds for them, they merely spend each day surviving. But there is still one thing that makes them happy and that is football. As they used to say to me, they like to run after the ball like humans like to run after dreams.

Eleonora Sabet is an Italian freelance environmental portrait photographer, based in Jordan. She started taking pictures with self-portraits and after a few years, she got interested in reportage and storytelling. She has lived and worked in Tanzania, Egypt, Lebanon, Palestine, Thailand, and Jordan. She has carried out projects covering topics that vary from the LGBT+ community to the Palestinian and Syrian refugee crisis. Currently, she is focused on collecting stories and developing projects related to the Middle East culture, women empowerment and SGBV and the small community of Sudanese refugees living in Jordan. In July 2019, she was awarded a scholarship to participate in VII Agency's workshop on Photojournalism, mentored by Ron Haviv in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

100 Faces... 100 Lives
Shareef Sarhan

Love, hope, freedom, peace, war, labor, unemployment, pain… This solo exhibition portrays the true image of Gaza through faces from the city, and their eyes that are full of life, love and hope. Despite the siege and occupation affecting people in every way for over 10 years, life continues and this exhibition sends messages of freedom, love, and hope.

Born in Gaza in 1976, Shareef is a professional photographer. He is a founding member of Shababeek collective for Contemporary Art in Gaza, and a member of the Association of Palestinian Artists. Shareef received his diploma in Arts from the University of ICS in the United States. He participated in Darat Al Funun academy in Jordan, under the supervision of the artist Marwan Kassab Bachi. Shareef received the recognition award (2007) the Bronze Award (2008) from the Arab Photographers Festival. He made a photography book and an experimental film entitled “Gaza War”, and his work was exhibited in Gaza, Ramallah, Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Amman, the UK and the US.

The People’s Revolution, Return Marches and Breaking the Siege
Ali Jad Allah

It was a peaceful march, which started on March 30 of 2018 near the security fence separating the lands that are controlled by the Israeli occupation and the eastern part of the Gaza Strip. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians participated, including children, women and the elderly, waving Palestinian flags and chanting against the occupation, reviving the Palestinian heritage near the border traditional songs and the national anthem. However, the Israeli Army stationed near the fence, and holed up its machines rail and military barracks used force to disperse the peaceful protesters demanding their right to a dignified life and to return to their lands whom their ancestors were forced out of in 1948. Using tear gas, live and rubber bullets the Israeli army targeted the Palestinian civilians, resulting in casualties, severe injuries, and coma. The Ministry of Health documented a number of deaths as a result of injuries from gas bombs and bullets, while others ended up either in a coma or convulsions sustained by the gas emitted from these bombs. Civilians tried to defend themselves peacefully, by either taking shelter between the few sandhills little in the place and sometimes trying to escape in vain, while others tried to fight back by throwing stones at the fence, which they couldn’t get past the fence, but it remains popular method resistance inspired by the first Palestinian uprising known as the Intifada in 1987.

Ali Jad Allah a Palestinian photographer with extensive experience in the field of photography. Worked for a number of global media outlets and local Palestinian newspapers, participated in covering three wars in the Gaza Strip as well as the Israeli military attacks on the Gaza Strip and contributed to the coverage of humanitarian and economic events, with a focus on some aspects of everyday life such as sports and art to show the human features clinging to life, for the residents of the Gaza Strip.

Inspiring Women
Samar Abu Elouf

For more than 12 years, the Gaza Strip has been living under a suffocating siege that has affected all aspects of life. “Inspiring Women” presents success stories of Gazan women who defied compelling circumstances, and made a difference not only on their families; but on their neighborhoods and the Gaza society, women who struggled to achieve their dreams and ambitions, and were always supportive of their loved ones during the darkest and most difficult conditions. Their contribution and the strength of their determination led to lifting their families out of poverty and unemployment, and they achieved success that everyone talked about. These women proved to everyone that they are strong and capable.

Samar Abu Elouf is a freelance photographer based in the Gaza Strip and works for the New York Times as well as other news agencies. In addition to her assignments, Abu Elouf dedicates her time to her ongoing projects focusing on presenting women in Gaza and the effects of wars. Abu Elouf has been invited to give talks and share stories which she documented throughout her career.

The Noble Sanctuary of Jerusalem/ Al Haram Al Shareef
Bashar Tabbaa

The Al-Aqsa complex is considered not only to be the heart of Jerusalem but also the heart of Palestine and its people. Measuring in at 144 acres, The sanctuary is not only a place of incredible sanctity and history, but an island of calm amongst the violent storm of humanity that occurs on the other side of its walls. The aim of the project is to reflect this atmosphere by focusing on scenes that emphasize both the space and the people within it, to create a visual representation of why the complex has earned the name of ‘Al Haram Al Shareef’.

Bashar Tabbaa his passion for photography, exploration, and history has dominated his life for the past 16 years. Growing up in Jordan surrounded by historical treasures highly influenced his passion and outlook. He primarily focuses on sites of historical and cultural significance and has traveled extensively, photographing over 380 locations internationally as well as 250 in Jordan. In December 2018 he published his first photography/history book, titled A Map and a Lens: Jordan.

170000 Donum, Gaza
Muhammad Asaad

This exhibition features a collection of photos about the agriculture reality in Gaza, which used to contribute 38% to the total national income in 1968. But now with residential areas taking over many rural lands, and the lack of groundwater and the amount of salt it contains, agriculture contribution to the total income in Gaza has decreased to nearly 10%. Despite the new reality, 40000 farmers in Gaza are working on 170000 acres of land with the support of several international foundations as well as the ministry of Agriculture in Gaza. An effort that led to self-sufficiency in some vegetables like tomatoes, onion, cucumber and several green leaves, as well as maintaining the best quality of citrus and strawberry which get exported to many Arab and European countries and are considered the first or 2nd best quality worldwide.

Muhammad Asaad has been working as a photojournalist in the Gaza Strip for the past 12 years, and has worked in several local and international media outlets. He won ten Arab and International awards, and has served as a judge in a number of competitions and participated in dozens of exhibitions around the world and many more. He worked to cover the siege on Gaza in all its aspects and covered the last three wars and is considered the first Palestinian documentary filmmaker to shoot a film under the sea.

Everyday Palestine
Mohamed Badarne

What drives me to take photos in Palestine without any elements of the occupation, no martyrs, no blood, no barriers, checkpoints or even guns? Is it an escape to a fantasy world?! Imagining my country without occupation, as if I’m traveling to other universes that don’t contain any complications. Maybe I don’t want to show Palestine the way the world is expecting to see, or maybe it is just an attempt to look for what the occupation does not want me to have; a spirit of hope - that is being killed in the Palestinian people. Perhaps my photos do not show the face of the occupation, but there are moments where we don’t feel its existence. This leads to a sense of guilt we must fight to celebrate these moments of freedom. The goal behind my artworks is to liberate myself from the occupation, although there are pictures showing the occupation inadvertently and unintentionally… despite my effort to ignore it.

A photographer, trainer, and activist. Born in the Palestinian village of Arraba in the Galilee, he got involved in social activism as a teenager. He volunteered in refugee camps and built a human rights movement for Palestinian youths. Until 2012, he earned his living as a high-school teacher and NGO worker. Since then – after graduating in Professional Photography – he has dedicated his career to photography and teaching photography. Mohamed leads workshops in cooperation with NGOs, community centers, and independent groups. For his own photographic work, he received grants from renowned art foundations, and his projects “Come Back Safely” and “Unrecognized Games'' were exhibited in diverse venues. His work is included in the collections of the Khalid Shoman Foundation as well as the ILO and private art collectors. Badrane curated the opening exhibition of the Qalandia International art festival in 2016.

Palestine’s Koshabiya
Salem Bouchakour

What Algerians feel towards Palestinians is not based on ties that are attributed to Arabism, blood or belief, but it is based on the similarity of the experience between the two countries in confronting the injustices of colonialism and occupation. Palestine is a motive, a belief and the red line that cannot be crossed. In the city of Djelfa (300 km south of the capital Algiers) and as soon as you take a small walk between its streets and squares, you realize the extent of the great connection with the Palestinian cause. The “Khashabiyya” is a traditional Algerian dress that belongs to the Arab tribes in southern Algeria- known to have been worn by the Algerian resistance against the French occupation. In this project, the Koshabiyah takes you on a tour to explore all that is related to Palestine from graffiti on the streets to public places, cafes, restaurants, and squares that tell the story of this immortal connection and the love the Algerians hold to this holy land... We are here for you despite the distance, and we will remain loyal to the land of peace.

Wretched Isolation
Abdul Rahman Zaqqout

This project includes images showing the wretched isolation of the people of Gaza, particularly the marginalized and the poor, and what has become of this city after many years of siege and war. All the pictures are connected through the fire element as their only companion. Each image contains a fire stove from different places, angles and with a different perspective. With its symbolism, the fire reflects the reality that was inflamed in Gaza, and at the same time, it is a companion for those who are marginalized and alone.

Abdul Rahman Zaqqout born in 1985. Zaqqout has been working as a photographer since 2009. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Media from Al-Aqsa University in Gaza City, and upon graduation, was appointed as a teaching assistant at the university's media department in 2008. He now works as a freelance photojournalist for many local and international news agencies and local and international institutions. Also, as a part-time lecturer for the photography course at the University of Palestine since 2017. Zaqqout has won several awards and his works have been exhibited in many local and international exhibitions. He was chosen as a representative of the State of Palestine at the World Photo Week, held in Germany in 2020.

Freedom
Renato Negrão

A group of Brazilian photographers responded to an open call in Brazil to be part of Image Festival Amman, 2020. Organized by curator Renato Negrão who selected the photos to be exhibited in the festival. Photographers from different states in Brazil sent their work under the theme “Freedom”, three photographic series and eleven individual images were chosen. The theme "freedom" was proposed as a way of addressing the issues of limitations of freedom that occur in territories that are invaded by others. Photographers were able to work with metaphorical images to talk about freedom and the lack of freedom, a recurring theme in contemporary society. Participating Photographers: Ana Avelar, Liana Azevedo, Márcio Silva, Mergulhadora, Nivia Uchoa, Jr. Moska, Jackie, Silvana Braz, Ciceia Almeida, Dylan Smith, Marcia Celjar.

Renato Negrão is a Curator and Visual Artist. Based in São Paulo, Brazil, he did his bachelor degree in Journalism, in 1997, at UFPR University. He attended Post graduation in Photography, in 2005 in Senac-São Paulo and obtained a Masters degree in Communication and Semiotics, in 2017, in PUC-SP. He has organized exhibitions in more than 11 countries; in Europe, Asia, Middle-east, and North America, as well as in different cities in Brazil and South America.

The Absents
Ziad Naitaddi

You came to take photos of young people, and to document the problem of immigration, but let me tell you something : they are all absent ; they are working elsewhere... Here, you can find only mothers, girls and kids and elders... Our youth had to immigrate. Otherwise, they could not feed their small families. There are some people who left for good, they sold all their property. But now, they regret that, and just wish to return here. None could leave his ancestor’s place. In my homeland, even if I have only water and expired bread, I feel good. – Trust me, I lived the exile experience. Here, I feel good – I have nothing and I need nothing. The problem of poverty which strongly motivates the act of immigration is due to education ; teachers here are not honest in their work. They are not teaching our children well. Those children find themselves illiterates once they are teenagers. Later, they are obliged to abandon school and to work, but as you see, without a good academic grade, you cannot get a job that will improve your social condition. All this wealth and greenery which you are seeing here – Beautiful images only for your eyes, but they do not fill empty stomachs. A beauty that looks good only in your photos.

Ziad Naitaddi Born 1995 in Rabat. A self-taught visual artist, his interest in photography started while he was dreaming of becoming a filmmaker. Since 2013, he has devoted his time to photography through cinematic research - which he explores in the form of documentary and fiction. His work investigates life and humans as pure profound emotion. He has exhibited his work in many cities in Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

We Will Never Forget
Fatima Al-Zahra'a Shbair

In 1948, Israeli forces with the help of Britain attacked hundreds of Palestinian villages and cities with the aim of taking control and establishing an Israeli state, later known as the Palestine Catastrophe (Nakba), and as a result, more than 750,000 Palestinians were displaced from their lands to refugee camps; and thousands were killed. The heroes of this project are witnesses to this catastrophe, they lived its details and gulp its bitterness, and today they are telling us unforgettable situations.

A journalism student, born in 1990 in Gaza city, Palestine. Fatima is interested in documenting people's stories, cultures, and social issues. Fatima’s work was exhibited in Palestine, UAE, London, Paris. Fatima is currently working as a freelance photojournalist.

EyeDentity Exposed²
Joeran Daenhardt

“Eye” speaks mostly for itself but stands for two things. First, the focus in the photographs is on the eyes, bright and shining, to draw the attention of the viewer into the picture. Secondly, as in the phrase “the eyes are the windows to the soul”. The soul being part of our identity, making the transfer to the next word. “Identity” also stands for two things: the identity that makes us who we are and the identity that we have in our pockets (as in the “identification” that we need to carry around all the time – people in Palestine need to carry around all the time). “Exposed” stands for two things too. Exposing our identity by showing our face (here in the pictures, or by showing our ID to soldiers at checkpoints) and for the photographic technique of double exposure. And “²” stands for all the double meanings in the title as well as the square sized works of art. Media for Social Change Project A group of Palestinian youth from West Bank (Jerusalem Shu’fat Refugee Camp, Jerusalem Silwan, Nablus Balata Refugee Camp, Bethlehem Ghirass Cultural Center, and Gaza Strip). About 20 participants aged between 15-18 years with 55% young women. The participants have learned for the last six months basic photography techniques to contribute to social change and majorly break down prejudices and stereotypes of their communities.Training was implemented through GIZ-Civil Peace Service (CPS).

Participants: Hassan Abu Ali, Lama Abbasi, Ghaith Srouji, Jamileh Mansour, Ayman Ribahi, Ahmad Haloob, Aya Rabee, Dina Qatoush, Linda Moa’mar, Malek Abu Rmeleh, Lana, Aya Rweideed, Nadeen Manasra, Tamara Manasra, Tamara Ramadan, Amjad Miswadeh, Sabreen Alayan, Israa Abu Hamameh, Ali Abu Nab, Ihab Zoughair. Supporting photographer: Joeran Daenhardt

“We Were and Still Are... Here" testimonies
Tarek Bakri

The Zionist establishment always claimed that Zionists settled in the land of Palestine when it was almost empty, and that they were the ones who built it. "We were here.. We are still here" documents the ethnically cleansed Palestinian villages to create a bridge between the past and the present for the purpose of fighting those claims, and shedding the light on Palestine before the Nakba in various areas of life, including social, cultural, commercial, urban and artistic.

A computer engineer born in Jerusalem in 1986, graduated from Al-Ahliyya Amman University in Jordan. Upon his return to Palestine, he developed an idea of documenting displaced Palestinian villages, after coming into contact with Palestinian refugees in the diaspora. He launched a personal initiative to visually document destroyed villages, houses and monuments in 1948. He collected old photos before the Nakba to prove the Palestinian right to the land, and he also documented stories of those who witnessed the Nakba. Tarek writes monthly columns for several Palestinian publications and has held many exhibitions and seminars in Palestine, the Arab world, and Europe. He is the winner of the 2018 Jerusalem Prize for Culture and Creativity. It is worth mentioning that Al Bakri works individually, and does not receive any financial compensation for the pictures he sends to the Palestinian diaspora. He believes that what he does is a national and humanitarian duty, and that memories are a human right that no one can deny or ignore.

Trying to Survive in Gaza since 2014’s War.
Serge NEGRE

Is life in color? Of course, without any doubt, even if sometimes it's the color of blood. Serge has worked for decades as a nurse with altruistic motivation. Through his work, he was able to enter into the intimacy of other people’s lives with photography. On December 23, 1890, Vincent Van Gogh wrote to his brother, « the only true artistic creation is to love people !» In 2014, after the war in Gaza, as part of the association Ard El Insan alongside nurses and psychologists, Serge took part in visits and consultations for women and children. He had the opportunity to get close to people and the suffering they experienced in their bodies and minds. The most courageous ones developed resilience, which enables them not to live fully, but to simply survive. In these images, the small amounts of color serve to illustrate this reality: try to survive!

Serge has been working as a mobile nurse for decades. He is the founder of the Espace Photographique Arthur Batut, 19th Century Photo Museum. Serge worked as an aerial photographer for Yann Arthus-Bertrand in China, and participated with photography work in UNESCO World Heritage, in Timbuctu in 2006. He has participated in Polar expeditions as a specialist in satellite communications, aerial photography and reports for French TV. Serge is an associated researcher for the Photographic Library of the Ecole Biblique et archéologique Française de Jerusalem about 19th century photographers in the Middle East.

Take Me With You
Momen Malkawi

Forsskaolea tenacissima is a plant that makes its home where not many plant species survive, in stony soils, in road edges, in the gravel valleys and in the rock crevices with no water around. The residents of Wadi Finan area (from the Azazma tribe) call it the “take me with you” plant. In my opinion, the story of the Forsskaolea tenacissima resembles the history of those residents, with their persistence in life after feeling Bersabe when the Israeli occupation forces arrived. Testimonies from the older generation now living in Wadi Finan revisit that dark period of history, describing what they saw of Israeli aircrafts killing people and cattles, and destroying bedouin tents. Forcing them to flee to Wadi Araba while holding on to documents and memories of names and songs that will always connect them to their homeland. In this project, I try to retrace the journey of the bedouin of the Besabe and Al Azazma tribe.

A documentary photographer who works and lives in the north of Jordan. Through his works, Momen tries to get closer to reality and re-explore it from different angles, taking us out of the monotonous daily routine, to get to know it again from a personal perspective. He participated in Darat Al Funun Summer Academy in 2019, and his work has been exhibited in Jordan and internationally, including the Amman Image Festival, and in Casa Arabe in Madrid.

Huna Gaza
Abdul Hakeem Abu Rayash

This exhibition includes pictures that reflect the life pursued by the Gazans who were oversaturated with death inflicted by the Israeli killing machine! Between a vast sky and a blue sea, the love of this city is revived every day. Gaza is innocent, as its children, kind as its elders and dreamy as its lovers. The Israeli occupation has surrounded the city for thirteen years, it has become an open prison with a population of over 2 million, people who love life for whatever it gives them.

Abdul Hakeem Abu Rayash Born in 1989 and graduated from Al-Aqsa University in Gaza with a degree in public relations and media, he worked as a freelance photojournalist and participated in many exhibitions, such as a special exhibition about the Gaza war held in Algeria, and an exhibition in Tunisia entitled Astronomical appearances in the Middle East and South Africa. Abu Rayash won several awards.

Gaza Historical Sites
Motaz Alaaraj

Born in 1990, Motaz is a photographer and filmmaker from Gaza. His journey in photography began at the end of 2010 with his desire to take snapshots of life. He was initially interested in showing the tenacity and beauty of Gazans, the colorful nature of his surroundings – the abundance of flowers in spring and the beauty of Gaza’s sea, and Gaza’s children. But more and more, he began to portray and document the destruction of Gaza through the ongoing siege and frequent assaults, revealing the suffering of its people. His work conveys the message that Gazans are standing strong despite the hardship. But while he cannot or should not turn a blind eye to the social impact and the economic difficulties that are prevalent in Gaza, Alaaraj notes, “We always find that there are some details that fill us with joy and hope, and I aim to show this in my work and through my photographic lens.”

The Story of the Stitch

Tatreez is the Arabic word for cross-stitch embroidery. It originated in the Middle East around 3000 years ago. The Palestinian tatreez is distinguished by rich colours and textures and varies in style and design across Palestine. The “Widad Kamel Kawar Collection'' currently has at least 3000 items, the largest collection in the world. Tiraz is a textile museum established by Mrs. Widad Kawar in Jordan, to celebrate Palestinian and Arab thobs (costumes). Mrs. Widad Kawar had two main aims while establishing this collection. First, to preserve the Palestinian heritage and history in the light of rapid modernization and the disappearance of the traditional dress. Second, to reinforce Palestinian heritage as historical truth. The Palestinian thob is a symbol of their culture and attests to their determination to sustain their national identity after the 1948 Nakba. As a change from the regular news feeds, that fill our screens about Palestine with a focus on the continuous destruction and violence towards its people and its land, photographers Fatma Baghdadi and Kholoud Aloul wanted to highlight the impact Palestinian women had on their artistic heritage, as a way to celebrate them.

Special thanks go to Mrs Kawar for dedicating her life towards the building of this invaluable collection and the establishment of her museum, Tiraz. More thanks goes to the curator Ms. Ruba Al-Thaher for not only modeling the individual pieces of art, but also for her patience and guidance about the pieces photographed.

Gaza’s Fish
Rehaf Batanji

When you say FISH, the word means in Arabic that there is nothing. The combination of the two meanings in Arabic and English as if you are saying that there is no fish left! Will Gaza’s fish go extinct?! Life under blockade in Gaze does not interfere with the fish’s ability to breed and live in the only free space in the Strip. Hundreds of fish species live in the Mediterranean while tens of these species are on the Gaza side of the sea despite the annoying blockade for over eleven years. Fishermen sail up to six nautical miles to catch some of these species every day, and the sea has not been friends with Gaza for years now.

A photographer based in Gaza City- Palestine. She is currently working as a public relations officer at Nawa for Culture and Arts Association. Rehaf's duties include documenting the activities inside the association through photos and videos, in addition to giving children training courses in photography. Rahaf is interested in street photography, with all its details, because the streets always answer all the questions in her head, about life, and the contradictions around her. She produced two photography projects so far, the first was entitled "Road works", while the second entitled: “Al-Khidr Monastery Restoration Photography Book”. Rehaf discovered her talent in photography when she was 15 years old, and started taking photos of everything around to develop her own vision. Rehaf plans to establish a photography school for talented and passionate photographers, a school to empower them to think and express themselves freely away from the deteriorating political and regional situation.

This Sea is Mine
Zainab Khalifa

“While the occupation forces prevent them from reaching their villages, the sea remains open for them to reach out to the country” Jamal, Muhammad and Fayez migrated from the beaches of Palestine to Sidon, but they never left the sea. For them, the sea is open and has no borders, its horizons are open and it does not recognize the occupation. The sea itself, which reaches Acre and Haifa, became an expression of their existential condition: an expression of their homeland, their identity, their memories and their concrete connection to Palestine.... and their hope of returning.

A photographer from southern Lebanon. Khalifa tries to embody the complex reality of Lebanese society, by highlighting the suffering and migrations between the different Lebanese social classes. She also works on documenting people's stories and journeys through life. Her work has been published in many Lebanese websites and magazines, including Al-Safir, Al-Raqeeb, and National Geographic. Khalifa also participated in the Qalandiya International Exhibition in 2016 and The Southern Stories in 2018. Khalifa won the first prize in the National Geographic Competition “Moments” for 2019.

Filāḥa: Documenting Palestinian identity; farming and the unity of food
Najla Abdellatif

As Palestine has moved towards urbanization at a swift pace, many rural farmlands are left unattended. Living in cities has caused many Palestinians to adopt an urban lifestyle, leaving them unaligned with nature, the seasons, and their traditional ways of eating and making food. Food and farming cultures that not only have been a source of livelihood, but also an important part of Palestinian identity, have faded away in the middle of the chaotic move into the city. In this series of photographs, Najla documents some Palestinians that practice indigenous ways of agriculture, rather than conventional ones, in an attempt to preserve their identity in lineage with their ancestors.

A Swedish Palestinian who spent her upbringing in between Jerusalem, Amman, and Sweden. The constant state of transit throughout time awakened her to a sense of belonging to the land. Her interest in photography started during her high school years in Amman. She later decided to pursue higher education in analog photography with darkroom and film development in Sweden. Najla, currently based in Jerusalem, is experientially exploring Palestinian identity and connection to the land through organic farming.

This Sea is Mine
Zainab Khalifa

Gaza… 10 Years of Isolation is a documentary art project, a biography of Gaza. I look forward to continuing the experience of working on it, in trying to embody a biography of Gaza and its features through photography and visual stories, which take the human body as an important axis in the visual creation and through editing of the details of the place. In this work, I attempt to create stories from Gaza through the medium of visual art, and for its people, to embody their world and to describe and visualize the surreality in Gaza to the outer world.

Born in Gaza, Mohammed Harb is a graduate of the Faculty of Fine Arts at Najah National University 2001, He worked in the field of contemporary visual arts, documentaries, video, art, and photography. Furthermore, Harb is a visual artist from 1998, he participated in many exhibitions and took part in the documentary development program in Marrakech between 2011-2015. He made and produced many short and feature films, and participated in the Cannes International Film Festival as part of the Palestinian wing in 2019.

Enigmatic Allure: the first trip to Palestine
Raed Asfour

Enigmatic Allure is what you feel as soon as you enter Palestine. Away from its religious background, history, and civilization. The intensity of this attraction accelerates as you enter cities waiting to reveal secrets of an eternal love. Images become part of some surreal beauty, where its mysterious appeal takes you to a state of disrepair between historical existence and time…. A love story sadly lived through images only.

A Jordanian photographer with several photographic exhibitions in Jordan, Egypt, and Lebanon. He is the director and art programmer of Al-Balad theater in Jordan, and the executive director of the Arab Center for Theatrical Training - Lebanon. His exhibitions include (Barbed Wire) in 2017 at Darat Al-Funun in Jordan and Beit El Sura in Egypt, and (The End) at the 2017 Image Festival in Jordan and the 2019 Beirut Image Festival.

The Last Generation | You will not occupy my memory
Hussam Manasrah

Memory is the process of storing information and images to retrieve them when needed time after time. Our memories of Palestine include lives that have been lost, land that has been stolen, and people who have lived through the bitterness of displacement over and over again. Nothing is more difficult than retelling memories of your stolen homeland, your violated rights, your painful childhood and the boundaries that have been forcibly drawn, to prevent you from returning to your home, the land of your fathers and grandfathers. Those who stayed suffered the hardest from occupation, injustice and oppression. Those who left were trapped in a world of nostalgia and memories to be told to children and grandchildren: “Palestine is our homeland, living in our hearts and conscience despite all the distance, time and conspiracies. Our roots are connected to it and it will always remain an Arab country.”

Born in Amman in 1970 and he currently lives there, Husam studied Fashion Design and he has been working in the field since 1988. He has taken several photography workshops since 2012, and he participated in a number of exhibitions.

I Read I Write
Laura Boushnak

The Gaza Strip has been under Israeli occupation since 1967. In mid-2007, the Islamic Resistance Movement, or Hamas, won a majority in the Legislative Council elections and took full control of the coastal strip. With the already shaky balance of power among Palestinians gone, Israel imposed a strict air, land, and sea blockade on the territory, citing security concerns. Laura Boushnak’s focus in Gaza was on Palestinian women whose ambitions of academic enhancement abroad are in limbo due to harsh and unjustified travel restrictions. Boushnak met four women dealing with the complicated process of getting travel permits. Their stories reflect how they patiently dealt with the uncertainty of their situation in a place that has barely time to breathe between wars, and how they handled the anxiety and anguish inherent in the unpredictable procedure.

Laura Boushnak is a Kuwaiti-born Palestinian photographer based in Sarajevo. Her work mainly focuses on the Arab world, looking at issues that she finds stem from her own personal experience of gender, education, and aftermath of war. As of 2008, she has been working as an independent photographer, commissioned for editorial assignments by the New York Times and other publications, while also giving more of her time to long-term personal projects in the Middle East. Boushnak’s main focus has been on her on-going projects, “I Read I Write” and “Survivor.” The former revolves around Arab women’s education and literacy, while the latter highlights the aftermath of war and its impact on individuals long after the fighting has ended. Boushnak is a TED fellow and has been invited to give talks in different parts of the world.

The Immobile Nomad
Agnese Purgatorio

Agnese Purgatorio presents a sequence of her best-known images. Her work is completely contaminated, this contamination allows for dialogue between opposites to create poetic stories. The existential /esthetic stratification paves the way to a new scenario of iconic writing that reflects her personal feelings. An indefinite crowd of refugees drifts forward to uncertainty on a precarious bridge, a map of Italy floating on the sea. In front of them is an artist, she is pregnant and her look is resolute and has a visionary gaze. She is heading straight towards them, and into the future. Dalla Clandestinità is the title of the series which is a digital collage, a technique that allows the hybridizations. Purgatorio also presents a new project, small, poetic acts that take place around the idea of borders, every kind of border, trying to capture something that is immaterial; a hybrid floating reality that invites the viewer to interrogate. For Purgatorio, Art is always a petition for another world and offers unusual images, poetic visual paradoxes.

An artist who works primarily with photography, installations, digital and analog collage, videos and performances. Born in Bari, Italy. With her artistic work, Purgatorio invents a poetic space, a hybrid floating reality that invites the viewer to interrogate both collective and personal narrations. Her training as an artist began with a period of study in São Paulo, Brazil, at Lasar Segall Museum and at SESC Pompéia Factory. Purgatorio graduated with a BA in Foreign Literatures and holds an M.A. in Art Therapy. She has exhibited her works in Italy and abroad, in solo and group exhibitions, and has been awarded several international awards.

Postcards From Palestine
Maysa Al-Shaer

In this project, Maysa expresses her relationship with the Palestinian cities she visited and photographerd to capture their beauty. Since she has been living in the north of the west bank, next to a checkpoint and the separation wall, Maysa has always dreamt of visiting the occupied parts of palestine, including Beisan, Safad and Nazareth. In 2013, Maysa founded “A walk and a photo”, a tourism initiative to photograph palestinian cities from the north to the south of Palestine. Maysa achieved big part of her dream of photographing Palestinian cities, but she still dreams of visiting Gaza to document the experience with photos, and complete her collection of postcards, covering all palestinian cities.

Maysa Al-Shaer born and raised in Jenin, Maysa studied multimedia technology at the Arab American University and started her photography work as a hobby in 2009. She has launched several initiatives related to photography in Palestine such as "Kazdura w Sora", the Image Festival Palestine in 2 editions and "Shaghaf for Digital Expression" cultural institution . Maysa loves to take photos of old Palestinian architecture. Her solo exhibition "I’m by the Window" in 2017 explored her relationship with Palestinian cities. Maysa participated in several exhibitions with other Palestinian photographers.

Documentary Film Screenings: A documentary series about Palestinian photographers

Photographers of Palestine: Karima Aboud, Saba, the Father and Son, Khalil Ra’ad”

Directed by: Marwah Jbara Tibi
Executive Producer: Zainab Productions
Produced by Al Jazeera Documentarys

The Sky of Gaza
Suleiman Hajji

A collection of aerial photos from Gaza City, and the daily life of Gaza captured via a camera drone, enabling the viewer to see Gaza from new angles, and in new images people did not see before. A city from above with all its beauty, and the reality of its daily life.

A photographer and documentary filmmaker for many Arab and international channels. Director of HQ Media Production Company and holds second place in (HIPA) Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum International Photography Award (2019). he was awarded the Jury Prize in the AIRVUZ International Competition for Aerial Photography and Event Covering for the year (2018).

Message of Peace
Exhibition Curator: Renato Negrão

“Message of Peace” was organized to be displayed on the streets of Amman. The photographers have sent their images as a message of peace and hope. The selection of the photographs, of varied subjects, carries one desire for the world to be a better place, without borders and travel prohibitions. Like Malu Mesquita's photos about Arabs who live in perfect harmony in São Paulo, or images that refer to scenes of peace and harmony, such as the photos of Paulo Henrique Cruz about northeast Brazil, a mystical place, and the photos of Vera Resende, Socorro Monteiro and Maximo Hernandez, who travel the world to build images with an optimistic view of humanity. The choice of the photos in this exhibition has been made by curator Renato Negrão as a way to use photography to spread good ideas.
Participating Photographers: Malu Mesquita, Maximo Hernandez, Paulo Henrique Cruz, Vera Resende and Socorro Monteiro.

Renato Negrão is a Curator and Visual Artist. Based in São Paulo, Brazil, did his bachelor degree in Journalism, in 1997, at UFPR University. Attended Post graduation in Photography, in 2005 in Senac-São Paulo and Master in Communication and Semiotics, in 2017, in PUC-SP. He has organized exhibitions in more than 11 countries; in Europe, Asia, Middle-east, and North America, as well as in different cities in Brazil and South America.

Lone Wolf
Sandra Eshhab

For women in everyday Palestine, away from the clashes with the occupation, the second most unfair reality seems to be gender inequality. In the public sphere, I view waves of men going about their daily lives unbothered with the power and sovereignty of the occupation. By expressing their dominance over us in public, men cause us to feel some resentment towards them. Nevertheless, a closer look at each man provides a different view of power and inequality. The images I have captured depict lone, apparently powerless, Palestinian men going about their daily lives against the power of the apartheid wall; the surveillance cameras; and the checkpoints. Providing an opportunity for solidarity and even sympathy rather than resentment!

Sandra is a Palestinian environmentalist and a photographer. She has been working in the field of environmental protection and awareness for the last 15 years. For Sandra, the word “environment” does not only mean exotic landscapes or endangered species but also people in their native environment, whether natural or built. Born and raised in Jerusalem, Sandra has spent most of her early years in Shufat Refugee camp, a slum of barely anything green. Sandra's desire to find traces of natural beauty on one hand and joy in the urban environment, on the other hand, have shaped her desire to pursue photography. Sandra is aware that global environmental challenges are alarming. Her master's degree studies in Climate Change at Columbia University, have left her eager to drive real global environmental change that guarantees the welfare of the people, especially the underprivileged. In addition, she views political, social, cultural, economic, and gender inequality issues to be closely connected to environmental issues, which she attempts to capture in photography as well.