Photographing Palestine

The symposium departs from the V&A’s collection of photography of Palestine, the majority of which was made in the nineteenth century as part of colonial mapping and documentation projects. Photography in this period was often connected to the ‘Biblification’ of Palestine, which frequently elided native people from the visual record or cast them as timeless ancient characters in a ‘land without people’. 

Speakers include artists, curators and researchers whose work engages with global museum collections of photography and film from and of Palestine, to address how visual histories are shaped and framed by such collections. They offer creative and critical approaches to working within and against the archive. Others will address the circulation of images of Palestine in international contexts, and the ways postcards and posters used images for nation-building and solidarity. The day will end with a session focussed on twentieth century photographers from Gaza. 

Photographing Palestine is convened by Rachel Dedman, the V&A’s Jameel Curator of Contemporary Art from the Middle East, and Adam Rouhana, artist, photographer, and Jameel Fellow at the V&A. 

Part of the V&A’s Jameel Programme