This exhibition seeks to illustrate the toxic effects of the Occupation on Palestinian society, from destruction of farming land, to poisoning of crops, intentional flooding of villages, and mass destruction of trees. We thank “Visualising Palestine” for permission to use their excellent visuals.
Learning to create life again in Gaza (Photo: Momen Faiz)
Women of Palestine
In this exhibition Women of Palestine are seen through the lenses of 6 female photographers.We wanted to enable Palestinian women to show their perception of themselves; at work, at home and always under occupation.This is a collaboration of photographers in Palestine, Germany and Chile and in view of this we opened on International Women’s Day.
Women in Palestine face a double challenge. There is a long tradition of public and social engagement of women in Palestinian society. Palestinian women have always been active in institutions, organizations and political parties, and have founded welfare and other Palestinian institutions themselves. In addition to their pivotal role within the family they are represented in all professions. There are policewomen, judges, politicians, soccer players and even racing car drivers! They raise children, work and are very emancipated and strong. On the other hand Women in Palestine are confronted with a patriarchal society, in which violence against women is too often the order of the day, and women are legally disadvantaged. Sons are still more important than daughters,and the Israeli occupation makes life even more difficult, restricting water and electricity supplies, blocking access to medical care and the frequently arresting family members often in a violent manner.
In this exhibition there was an initial reluctance among some women to submit their images . Why should that be? You tell us!
Aiyah Sibay A mother serves up the family bread in Duma, N.Palestine, the day after Israeli settlers set fire to a home there. Three family members were killed and one toddler badly injured. (Photo Aiyah Sibay)Self portrait with my boy, inspired by the J. Howard Miller’s “We Can Do It!” poster from 1943. (Photo – Sabrine Mukarker Zeidan)Respect existence or expect resistance. A young woman from the palestinian desert. (Photo – Marian Gidi)Samah is particularly proud of this Palestinian flag and key, which was the first item she produced on her new wood carving machine. ( Photo – Iman Abu Muailaq)Older Bedouine woman: Living in the Negev Desert, not knowing when her home will get destroyed, “Time: Each wrinkle is a story measured by time. Age that has passed, Age that has engraved itself in the face in order not to be lost. (Photo – U Mindermann)Bedouine woman in the desert, living in a tent close to Mar Saba Monastery. asks herself, “How long will it last until it gets destroyed. ” The harder the place, the better the people” W. Thesinger (Photo – Ursula Mindermann)Masyoona (in the white hijab) awaits medical attention. Her son is a political prisoner serving a life sentence in an Israeli jail. He actively participated in the massive hunger strike of 2017.(Photo – Marian Gidi)Staying here where my roots have grown since the day I was born, blooming like green almonds in an endless spring. (Photo – Sabrine Mukarker Zeidan)A protest breaks out at a checkpoint in Nablus, Palestine following Trump’s decision to name Jerusalem the capital of Israel in December 2017. Many young men were injured and killed in the protests that ensued as a result. (Photo – Aiyah Sibay)Sawsan Al-Khalili, a woman with special needs, gives a lecture on how to deal with women with special needs for female students in a secondary school. (Photo – Samar Abu Elouf)Samah gave up working in embroidery because “thats what all the women do”. Instead she chose the traditionally male- dominated work of wood carving, and has succeeded against all the competition.(Photo – Iman Abu Muailaq)Um Alaa cooks food for her family on an open fire as she cannot afford to buy cooking gas. She lives in one of the most impoverished areas in the southern Gaza Strip (Photo – Samar Abu Elouf)Gaza nurses suffer tear gas poisoning while treating the wounded on the northern border confrontations between Palestinian youth and the Israeli army. (Photo – Samar Abu Elouf)May Qudeih, a Palestinian woman bakes bread on a mud oven in the southern Gaza Strip. (Photo – Samar Abu Elouf)Samah Shaheen graduated from the ‘Irada’ project at the Islamic University of Gaza. She has been handicapped in her left hand from birth. Here she works in her small workshop in the Bureij Refugee Camp making wooden artefacts (Photo – Iman Abu Muailaq)A Palestinian woman stands facing tear gas during clashes with the Israeli army on the eastern border of Gaza City. (Photo – Samar Abu Elouf)My most powerful weapon. (Photo -Sabrine Mukarker Zeidan)Woman on hungerstrike , Manger Square, Bethlehem, 2017 – holding pictures of her sons who were arrested and jailed in a military prison. “My sons are arrested- I don’t know what for – I don’t know how long -I don’t know when (Photo – Ursula Mindermann)A mother and her son wait for medical attention in Aida,Refugee Camp, Bethlehem. (Photo – Marian Gidi)Aya Masoud is a young Palestinian woman, born without arms, who participates in a project on Palestinian embroidery (Photo – Samar Abu Elouf)
