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Nida
Mutan participates in a march in St. Louis, Missouri, on April 7th. The
day marked six months after the October 7th attacks and the start of
Israel’s offensive in Gaza. I |
Ours was a scene that played out in many Palestinian American families, and it replayed with every flareup and every encroaching Israeli settlement. And yet the images on television did not always match the ones I saw during visits to Palestine: my grandmother laying out sheets of newspaper to roll stuffed grape leaves on the veranda; the call to prayer, and the little green lights shining from every mosque; the zaffe drum procession echoing from outdoor weddings. To be a Palestinian in the diaspora is to miss one’s home, the blād—the mountains and the sea, the family members left behind, the distinct bitterness of our olives and our sumac- and za’atar-dusted mezze spreads—even as one enjoys the privilege of distance from Palestine’s hardships. It is to possess a luxury that is missing from Palestine itself: a choice.
A new series of photographs by Kholood Eid, a New York-based photographer who grew up in Missouri and the West Bank,
tries to depict what this tension does to a person. Her photos are full
of sharp contrasts: joy and sorrow, light and dark, past and present.
In one photograph, a young protester—wearing a kaffiyeh and a T-shirt
printed with a watermelon, a symbol of Palestinian solidarity—holds a
sunflower. In another, through the railings of a staircase, home-cooked
lentils and rice sit on the Eid family’s dining-room table. In a
photograph of a framed picture from the late nineteen-eighties,
Abdelaziz, Eid’s close childhood friend, clings to her mother’s
embroidered thawb at a protest, reminding the viewer of the ongoing
nature of Palestinian activism.... READ MORE https://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/the-view-from-palestinian-america
[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes or watch videos) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]
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| Abdelaziz [Eid’s close childhood friend] was about six years old when her mother (left) took her to a protest for Palestinian liberation. “I often tell folks that growing up Palestinian American left me ‘protested out,’ as generations of Palestinians have been calling for liberation,” Eid said. “That said, our resilience has always been a defining characteristic of our people, and there is beauty and strength in perseverance.” |
