Sakir Khader "We are like the olive trees that have been there for thousands of years, and we will be there for a thousand more. That’s sumud."

 

Sakir Khader’s Portraits of Resistance

Exploring sumud and the symbolic power of the keffiyeh in Sakir Khader’s intimate portrayals of Palestinian resistance

by Sarra Alayyan and Photography by Sakir Khader 

November 23, 2023

In Palestine, sumud  ( صمود ) means steadfastness, resistance and resilience. It’s what you do to quell the pressure of a knee to the neck – it’s stopping a bull-dozer in its tracks, re-growing olive trees from ripped roots, and most urgently, it’s the embodiment of every person in Gaza right now. Put simply, sumud is a way of being, of existing every day as a Palestinian in the face of asymmetrical power.

Palestinian filmmaker and photographer Sakir Khader knows this well. In fact, it’s at the heart of everything he does. “My main focus is our sumud and our existence,” He tells GQ Middle East. “Sumud is seventy-five years under constant oppression, and we still never give up. We are not fleeing. We will not leave this land. We are deeply rooted in this ground. We are like the olive trees that have been there for thousands of years, and we will be there for a thousand more. That’s sumud.” 

Everything about Sakir’s practice is an exercise in resistance, down to his choice of medium. Since the second Intifada, the Netherlands-based Photographer has been capturing and sharing portraits of Palestine in his now signature monochrome film. A decision, which he explains, is far more than stylistic, and that is no surprise.

“I shoot black and white because as long as my people cannot live in dignity and in their freedom, I will not shoot colour anymore.” He says. However, Sakir goes on to assert that, in black and white, “the emotions, they speak as colours.” There is no denying this: the stories and emotions in his portraits are searing, evocative and vivid. The people are themselves, colour enough and speak louder than any hue, especially when shot with the same kind of respect that underlines all of Sakir’s work, in and outside of Palestine. 

So much of his work, however, features another form of monochrome that’s increasingly seen everywhere today punctuating protests of millions worldwide, where,  in almost every shot the keffiyeh is somewhere...

While the keffiyeh’s origins date back to the Sumerian priests of Mesopotamia in 3100 BCE and has been worn all across the Arab region, albeit in varying colours, the scarf has a more specific meaning for Palestinians. ...READ MORE

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