Speaker: Dr. Issam Nassar
Wednesday, July 4 | 17:30 - 18:30

The pictures left by the Europeans about Palestine in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries portray the then-prevailing European perspective of Palestine, a slanted bias which did not reflect the reality of the Palestinian landscape. Photographic interest in the Orient was approached via the romantic perspective which was spreading among Europeans who viewed the Far East as an exotic place, and this romanticism is evident in the photographs which they produced. Indeed, myriad images exist of women from Palestine wearing extravagant dresses and standing in artificial theatrical poses.

Labour of Love features portraits which contain anti-colonial perspectives to counter the prevailing images of Palestinian women in these earlier centuries. The portraits evade the colonial gaze through which most images of Palestinian women were captured. This exhibition displays photos taken in local studios or with family cameras that portray women in traditional or modern embroidered/non-embroidered costumes, photographed in poses that they chose for themselves. Most of the portraits are drawn from the Palestinan Museum’s intimate archive of photographs donated from personal collections. 

An interactive discussion will be held with a researcher on Palestinian history, Dr. Issam Nassar, in order to both read the history of Orientalism and to behold the transformation of the photographic representation of Palestinian women.

The talk will be in Arabic.
To register, please fill the online form here.