Wafa Hourani

The Political Scene

 

The political scene in Palestine is seen here through a portrait artist in the city center of Ramallah. It is customary that portrait artists in cities reflect public opinion and history in the form of icons. This can implicate both contradiction and unity at the same time. For instance, there is a photo of President Yasser Arafat in a black frame, next to it a photo of Jesus Christ with a smaller photo of Hasan Nasrallah attached to it with paper clips. A photo of Gamal Abdel Naser, who's long been gone, behind or next to the artist, along with a photo of Saddam Hussein in front of it. To the right of the artist, there are two photos of Hamas leaders and above them is a photo of Che Guevara to the far left, and then a photo of singer Kazem al Saher and al Sheikh Imam.

 

It is worth noting that more important than all these contradictions is the fact that they are all men. There is not one photo of Palestinian rebel women. Here we are left to wonder about and criticize this work for the absence of images of women from the political scene in the city center.

 

Wafa Hourani - Palestinian Artist - Photography