Israeli Elections Come and Go, But Israel Remains an Outlaw State
A Palestinian family reacts after Israeli bulldozers demolished their home in the Arab East Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina, Feb. 5, 2013. (AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)
Two Views: Israel’s Parliamentary Elections
Newly elected Israeli Knesset member Yair Lapid (l), leader of the Yesh Atid party, speaks to Naftali Bennett, head of the hard-line national religious party the Jewish Home, during a Feb. 5 reception in Jerusalem marking the opening of the 19th Knesset. (URIEL SINAI/GETTY IMAGES)
Richard H. Curtiss (1927-2013) Devoted His Life to Telling People Stories
Richard Curtiss at work in his Washington Report office. (STAFF PHOTO D. HANLEY)
Israeli License to Cheney-Linked Energy Firm on Golan Heights Raises Eyebrows
Then-Vice President Dick Cheney (l) and Likud chairman Benyamin Netanyahu, out of office at the time and serving as the official Israeli opposition leader, at a March 23, 2008 breakfast meeting at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem. (PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)
Peace at Last in the Southern Philippines?
Philippine President Benigno Aquino III (r) shares candies with Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chief Murad Ebrahim during a Feb. 11 visit to the rebels’ stronghold in Sultan Kudarat on the island of Mindanao. (KARLOS MANLUPIG/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)
Two Palestinian, Israeli Documentaries Depict Evils of Military Occupation
Emad Burnat views his five broken cameras in his documentary of the same name. (PHOTO COURTESY KINO LORBER)
August 2012, Page 57
Music & Arts
Photographer/Farmer Vivien Sansour's Agro-Resistance
Stunning photographs of Palestinian farms will grace the walls of the Jerusalem Fund Gallery from July 27 through August as part of Vivien Sansour's project to put a face on Palestinian agriculture as a form of resistance. A farmer herself (she grows almond trees) as well as an independent photographer, Sansour has worked to promote Palestinian agriculture and food products. She most recently helped Canaan Fair Trade, which empowers marginalized Palestinian rural communities caught in conflict so they can sustain their livelihoods and culture by promoting sustainable farming practices.
Sansour's work centers on the farmers themselves, giving each a face and a voice, telling the stories of their lives and work through her sensitive images. More than a romantic idea, Palestinians' cultivation of their land contains the seeds of resistance. Her large-scale photos enable the viewer to walk the fields, experiencing the relationship of farmer to land, seeing how the traditional ways of planting and harvesting, of cooking the old recipes, form an historical continuum, the fruits of their labors feeding the body and the soul of Palestine today.
Food is an important element of Sansour's work, with films of cooking methods and recipe cards for the viewers to take with them.
Sansour wants her work to emphasize the fact that "Palestinian farmers have always been there, they have always been part of the landscape, not an imposed or artificially created presence." This continuum of presence is what she terms "agro-resistance." Her photographs are guaranteed to create this presence in the Jerusalem Fund gallery, allowing the audience, in their consumption of the both art and the food, to participate in that resistance.
—Dagmar Painter
