The exhibition Adam Rouhana. Before Freedom presents photographs by the Palestinian-American photographer Adam Rouhana (b.1991). Rouhana grew up in the United States, returning annually to Palestine to visit his family. His experience of everyday life there did not align with the incomplete image he encountered in the Western media. This dissonance drove Rouhana to develop an alternative to the one-sided representations within the media. With his camera, Rouhana explores life beyond the news cycle, daily joys and communal love. His raw yet dreamlike images not only highlight the beauty and complexity of Palestinian life, but also raise questions about the role of photojournalism.
’As I got older and developed my practice, I noticed a dissonance between the West’s conception of Palestinian society and the images I was making — the life I was living. In the news media, Palestinians were often portrayed as masked and violent or as disposable and lifeless.’ - Adam Rouhana
Over the past three years, Rouhana has been photographing local life throughout historic Palestine in cities including Jerusalem, Haifa, Akka, Hebron, Nablus and Bethlehem. His work presents a multi-layered and intimate view of everyday life. He shows us a world where children play and swim and where friends and families meet up for picnics or go to the barber’s. On the other hand, images of soldiers, checkpoints, and surveillance cameras depict the harsh reality of life under occupation. Using a soft colour palette and natural lighting, the photographer captures the Palestinians as people who are authentic, proud, and full of joy. Amidst recurring elements like olive trees, poppies, and watermelons — symbolic of Palestinian resistance, and characteristic of the local culture and landscape — Rouhana invites the viewer into the lives of the Palestinians who, in spite of the occupation, continue in the everyday.
Adam Rouhana
Adam Rouhana (b. 1991, Boston) is a Palestinian-American artist and photographer based between Jerusalem and London. Rouhana’s photography works to deconstruct Orientalism through his subjective lens within the broader context of Palestine. Through his
investigations, he questions his positionality as a Palestinian behind the camera, both as Westerner, having grown up in America, and as an Arab. Rouhana received his master’s from the University of Oxford. Through the introduction of new narratives, Rouhana’s work embraces themes of the past to create a contemporary Palestinian visuality characterised by visual representations of Palestinian lives that embody an active ethic of self-determination. He is often inspired by scenes of his grandmother’s fruit orchard and domestic life from his early memories in Palestine.
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