Sunset along the Gaza City coastline. Sami Kishawi, 2011.
I am a Palestinian-American amateur photographer who has learned much about my family’s and community’s lived experiences through documentary-style photography of the Middle East, specifically of the occupied Palestinian territories.
Photography is the most expressive medium. It captures a moment in time, isolates it for further study, shares a message, and allows us to live the moment over and over again.
But because of the power it wields, photography can cause great harm. For too long, the Middle East and North Africa have been photographed by outsiders and entities unfamiliar with the land and its people. Knowingly or not, depictions can be dehumanizing and exploitative. Even the most honest attempts tend to highlight just one of many realities in the region.
Over the years, I have collected photographs and photobooks reflecting years and even decades of work documenting the region. What I have learned above all else is that photography by insiders is under-appreciated, neglected, and even outright rejected, so the stories we tell and our intimate depictions of home often fall into obscurity.
My primary goal with this project is to share my love of documentary-style photography and to move you the way these photographs move me. I hope to also share my collection with you so that you may expand your own and, more importantly, find how easy it is to love and relate to this region of the world.
Bayn Suwarna, Arabic for “between (or among) our photographs”, spotlights impactful photographs and publishes reviews of photobooks old and new. This project pays specific attention to the way we view, photograph, and document ourselves and how these depicted realities differ from what others show the world. It also draws attention to work and to photographers native or sensitive to the region, as their insights and familiarities with the land offer unique touches that I hope you will find valuable.