Portraits of Freedom - Palestine Trek 2022
In March 2022, I traveled to Palestine with a group of Harvard students. The trip was intended to introduce westerners to the Palestinian narrative, which is often overlooked in media. It was led by students from the Law School and Kennedy School who'd long been involved in the Palestinian liberation struggle. Similar trips exist at other grad school that let students see Palestine with their own eyes - directly experience the history and culture, meet with human rights activists, and witness the reality of military occupation.\
I took it upon myself to document our experience. History's been unfolding before my eyes since 2020 and I've leaned on my camera to make sense of it. When COVID-19 emptied NYC's streets, my camera got my through it. When George Floyd's death sparked a global protest movement supporting Black lives, I attended protests, camera in hand. When Israeli-Palestinian conflict sparked in 2021, I preserved that history through photography.
I couldn't have imagined the trip's impact ahead of time but, I knew my role as a witness was vital. Over ten days, we traveled throughout Jerusalem and the Western Bank, meeting community activists, professors, and everyday people who carried hope of a brighter future within them. Upon our return, we had a new understanding of Palestinian's vitality and the oppression they're experiencing under the Israeli occupation. These images, which I've decided to call 'Portraits of Freedom' are dedicated to them.
In Ramallah, we were invited to a performance by the Baqoun Folklore Dance Group, an independent, volunteer-based, non-profit artistic organization. Since its inception, it has expressed the spirit of Palestinian folklore and contemporary culture through dance and has become well-regarded within Palestine and the diaspora. Its artistic vision is to resist Israeli occupation by educating others about Palestinian liberation. With its popular success has come harassment by Israeli authorities but these repressive actions have reinforced their popularity and made them flag bearers for Palestine’s artistic identity.
This shopkeeper sits surrounded by wares in his shop in Jerusalem’s Muslim Quarter. He sits calmly and dwarfed by the eclectic collection of goods, mirroring the way Palestinians in this area are subsumed by the heft of culture and history. Shopkeepers are the remnants of what was once a thriving residential Muslim neighborhood near the Al-Aqsa mosque, the third holiest site in Islam. While multiple faiths lived in relative harmony in this area before 1967, in recent years Israeli security forces have frequently raided the mosque under the pretext of maintaining security.
The simple act of visiting the beach is beyond reach for the majority of Palestinians due to Israeli restrictions of their travel. When taking this photo in Haifa, I reflected on how much easier it is for me to access the water as a tourist than it is for Palestinians who have called this region home for centuries. Only 70K out of 3M Palestinians living in the West Bank have permits that allow them to travel outside the territory. Even for those living in Gaza, which has been subject to a blockade since 2007, water pollution driven by political and economic turmoil is a barrier. Disputes between Hamas, the Palestinian Authority, and Israeli authorities have resulted in untreated sewage dumping that threatens water security.
Here, an activist and resident of Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem boldly carries a Palestinian flag as Israeli security forces gather ominously in the background. His flag is connected to a walking cane just out of the frame. He's needed it since being injured during protests against the forced eviction of Palestinian residents in 2021. The wave of youth-led and online-organized global protests that followed, known as the Unity Intifada, demonstrated the emerging understanding that Palestinians in the diaspora were crucial to reinforcing the understanding the Israel is an apartheid state.
In this image, a young girl leisurely eats an iced treat on a road in East Jerusalem. Her childlike freedom sharply contrasts with the restrictions that Palestinians face on their movement within the Israeli occupied territories. This uncertainty makes it difficult to perform simple tasks like commute to work or visit family because they can be detained at checkpoints for hours. The Israeli permit system that requires Palestinians to carry documentation for travel is eerily similar to that implemented in South Africa during apartheid. Her joy contrasted sharply with the fearful atmosphere of checkpoints that Palestinians encounter during travel. Our Palestinian trip leaders and tour guides were constantly laughing, making jokes about the dismal situation and I was drawn to the joy the carries on despite the challenging circumstances.
It took me these four months to digest this experience. Editing and writing about these photos has resurfaced emotional tumult. In the face of overwhelming obstacles, hopelessness is a natural reaction. It's daunting to realize that the point of my being there was to use my voice to shift the narrative now that I'm back home. What are the right words to dispel the lies about this conflict being complicated or Palestinians being responsible for their own oppression? Am I really capable of opposing an oppressive state that deprives people of their homes, culture, and right to self-determination? Did I truly deserve to be there in the first place?
Visual language speaks where words fall short. I reduce the burden on my shoulder by bringing you, the viewer, into the fold. Having seen these photos and read this story, you're now equally responsible for spreading the message of liberation. The question that remains is, what're we going to do about it?