Reframe is a photographic exploration of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict rooted in identity, narrative, and dialogue. This exhibition serves both as a presentation of the Winter 2018 UCLA Fact Finders trip and a platform for continued discussion.
In my selection of photographs for the Exhibition in April - June, 2019, I want to illustrate—though far from complete—the complexities regarding land, history, faith, identity, people, peace, and fear that are inherent to the conflict. My aim is certainly not to suggest any conclusion or solution but, rather, to introduce some sensitivity in dialogue as I have come to adopt through learning and relearning. Framing and reframing.
This entire trip constantly demanded us to question displayed images and to challenge presented narratives. This view especially captures the message of confronting frames and proposing new frames in the way we perceive and think. I had never seen the Western Wall from this angle — it was the first time I noticed non-worshippers at the religious site. In a symbolic way, the message of this image followed me throughout and after the trip and urges me to always wonder if there is someone else there as well? Someone else who is not usually included in the conversation, but someone else who is faithfully there too. And only by expanding, transforming, and shifting our predefined frames are we able to see and hear from someone else.
PARENTHOOD
A parent walks a child near the UN school in Aida Refugee Camp in Bethlehem, moving away from the concrete wall, separating Israel and Palestine.
This juxtaposition of the images reflects the unfolding of parenthood and passing down of identity and narrative on different sides of the border. This contrast makes it easier to empathize with one scenario over the other with regards to privilege, faith, access, or the lack thereof. It becomes clearer how conceptions of spatial identity are formed and reformed. If parenthood entails a passing down of narrative, then parenthood confined within a particular space may shape a restricted narrative as well.
A father holds up his daughter and points at the Western Wall as he explains its significance in Jewish identity.
SYMBOLS
Gas lamps and “Key of Return” metal piece are displayed at a corner outside a housing complex in Aida Refugee Camp. These objects show a popular Palestinian political claim of their “Right of Return.” As a result of the 1948 war, many Palestinians were forced to vacate their homes that currently fall within the borders of Israel. Many of them, until today, still hold the original keys to their houses in hopes of returning one day. Their desire/right to return to these homes remains an unsettled issue between the two authorities, especially in conversations regarding negotiation. The Key of Return serves as a symbol for an unhealed wound from the past and a guidepost for future appeals.
Collected rockets fired from Gaza are displayed at a police station in Sderot, a community bordering Gaza. Nearly 40% of the residents in Sderot suffer from PTSD due to frequent and unalarmed rocket attacks directed at civilian activity spaces. The display of these rockets at the police station raises both a sense of security and insecurity: security because the rockets were avoided and locked behind the gates of a defense institution; insecurity because the number of landing rockets continue to grow.
Whether these symbols serve to inspire peace or perpetuate fear and division remains a question for us and for them. Memorials can remind us of wounds or remind us to heal — but is healing desirable or possible?
DIVERGENCE
The intersection in the Old City of Jerusalem is where the Jewish Quarter and Muslim Quarter split. The pathway to the right leads to the Muslim Quarter. Israeli police are seen in the corner, ensuring that no Jews enter beyond this alleyway, the most common path where terrorist stabbing attacks had happened in the past. Walking through the tunnel and being guided left at this intersection was one of the most binary experiences on the trip. It reinforced the reality of explicit and seemingly inevitable dichotomous labels ascribed to this conflict. It was as if the physical space demanded a clear answer to “Jew or Arab?” at this intersection, and it goes to show the unfortunate segregation, mistrust, and fear that continue to flow in this society.
INSTALLATION IMAGES
Team of 3/independent project, winter-spring 2019
along with Keiana Snell and Rucha Modi
Featured are my individual selected prints for the Exhibition.
project conception:
I traveled to Israel/Palestine region for the 3rd time through the sponsored program Fact Finders Journey at UCLA Hillel. Over the course of 10 days, we stepped into different territories and spoke to local speakers of different professions—politicians, workers, private business owners, medical professionals, diplomats, etc. The intensity of the trip was not easy for me to process, so I took another 10 days to formulate my thoughts alone. I ended up frantically typing a 30-page doc to document all of my growing thoughts. Then I met with two other participants from the trip to share our new processing. We landed on the idea of hosting a multimedia exhibition to share with the public our new learning. Among the copious ideas and messages we wished to deliver, we shared one common ground: we want to present, provoke, and challenge the conversation around this conflict and refrain from suggesting conclusions.
Implementation and Challenges:
After many meetings to discuss a theme and organization logic, we finally established an approach of “contrast and unity.” This framework helped us select photographs that would attract or repel one another on certain topics such as remembrance, memorial, identity. On that note, the central installation was also planned to be a space of possible tension in contrast to the surrounding gallery walls. In realization, the clustering of photographs became pairs of dichotomy, juxtaposition, or agreement; and the central piece took the form of a permeable, wrapping wall simulation with 3 video projections of interview quotes and travel clips to symbolize our privilege of access and mobility across borders and spaces.
The main challenge of the project was rooted in the temporary, central installation. First, we did not want to adopt a form of “the wall“ so literally that it would be too disturbing to invite dialogue. Second, it was very hard to find affordable material and texture that would embody the monumental, monolithic, brutal character of the barrier we encountered. Third, when we finally decided to use 8’x8’ painted cardboard panels, we didn’t know how to stack and stabilize them without destroying the clean aesthetics. Happily, each of these challenges were solved. I proposed for the first two challenges that we can take an abstracted form of the wall, reducing it to a single color, flat, and modestly bent—thus standing as a permeable barrier that encloses and generates new space for interpretation but not literally reproducing a tense division, as that is not the end purpose. For the last challenge, I came up with the idea of cutting slots on the edges of stack pairs of panels, turning them into “puzzle pieces.” Then we fixed and tightened the panel stacks by fitting the slots onto each other. The result was very promising and secure, and the presentation remained clear and clean.
Exhibition reception:
The opening event received over 100 UCLA students, faculty, and guests. The 3-hour viewing session generated a lot of meaningful conversations around the subject. The event served as a presentation, a dialogue platform, as well as a bus reunion for the Winter 2018 participants!
Statement:
Reframe is a photographic exploration of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict rooted in identity, narrative, and dialogue. This exhibition serves both as a presentation of the Winter 2018 UCLA Fact Finders trip and a platform for continued discussion.
Although the ten days of the Fact Finders itinerary only revealed to us a small segment of this deep and expansive conflict, we have learned―and continue to relearn― that our attempts to understand this conflict must be rooted in people themselves, rather than the words of the political, academic, and media institutions that continue to overgeneralize, polarize, and provoke. Our experiences have challenged us to grapple with the complexities of the conflict delivered through our privileged access to mobility, movement, and exploration during our time in Israel-Palestine. With this acknowledgement, we aim to confront and convey this message through our creative display.
If there is any conclusion to reach post-trip, we are certain about one: there is immense value in actively challenging the images presented before us ―or in other words, reframing. From the literal adjustment of our own camera lenses, intentional framing of the images we capture, expanding of our approach to understand different perspectives, and working to shift the culture of this conversation, we believe it is critical to present the stories we were able to collect on our journey honestly and candidly. These are not our stories to reinvent.
We hope to take our audience on a nuanced journey, creating space to explore the unique stories that continue to move and challenge us. Please join us in this process of relearning, reconfronting, and reframing.
Welcome to Reframe.
We are privileged, honored, and thankful to complete this exhibition with the oversight of our trip leaders Amit David and Michael Kagan, the participants on the 2018 Fact Finders Bus, Perla Karney; and the generous sponsorship of Hillel at UCLA and The Pamela and Randol Schoenberg Family Foundation.