Nearly 150 photographers and artists including Cindy Sherman, Alec Soth, and Adham Faramawy have donated work to a print sale benefiting Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), a United Kingdom-based nonprofit that provides medical support to Palestinian communities. Pictures for Palestine opened last Wednesday, November 15, and has so far raised £152,500 (~$190,740). Each open-edition print measures eight by 11 inches and costs £100 (~$125).
Since the October 7 Hamas attack that killed 1,200 Israelis, over 11,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel, 40% of whom are children, according to Palestinian authorities. Israel has repeatedly bombed hospitals in Gaza, leaving the besieged Palestinian territory without adequate medical supplies and care.
The works are varied, ranging from portraits to landscapes to carefully staged snapshots. London-based Egyptian filmmaker and photographer Adham Faramawy contributed a 2023 work titled “what it takes to make a forest” depicting three individuals, hands upheld, standing on a grass clearing surrounded by trees. Faramawy, who has Palestinian relatives, has created many similar images showing people reaching upward with their feet planted in riverbeds and other natural footings.
“I chose this image for the Prints for Palestine initiative to point towards a relationship between Indigenous peoples and the land,” Faramawy told Hyperallergic in an interview. “With trees as symbols of resilience, history, and a hope for abundance.”
Tanya Habjouqa, a Jordanian photographer based in Jerusalem who spent extensive time photographing women in Gaza, contributed a 2012 picture of two high school ballerinas in the West Bank.
“I have friends, colleagues, and former students in Gaza. I know Gaza well,” Habjouqa told Hyperallergic. “It hurts so deeply to be so close in Jerusalem and to feel powerless, to see something as sane as a ceasefire not being pushed as a major agenda of World Powers.” She spoke about hearing the firsthand accounts of her former student, photographer Sameh Nidal Rahmi, fleeing bombs with his two young daughters, wife, and mother-in-law.
“He called me one night when he thought he would die and asked me to help his girls get out to have a future,” Habjouqa said. “It is personal to me.”
Queens-based artist Dean Majd’s 2018 photograph “Sheep Dancing, Ad-Dhahiriya, Al-Khalil (Hebron), Palestine” shows a farm in the Hebron Hills of the West Bank, where his relatives live.
“I chose this image to bring awareness to the settler violence and expulsion in the West Bank,” Majd said, pointing out that farmers in the Hebron Hills have been especially affected.
“Navigating our careers in an ethical manner can change systems of oppression,” Majd continued. “Participating in projects like Pictures for Palestine is important not only for providing aid, but also to bring artists together to make a statement in support, boosting morale for the cause.”
Other photographers in the print sale include Zineb Sedira, Jananne Al-Ani, Susan Meiselas, Tina Tyrell, and Tom Wood. The sale ends on December 6.
