ta7yafilisteen: Occupied Pleasures, Palestine. Palestinians were baffled when Tanya Habjouqa first e
ta7yafilisteen: Occupied Pleasures, Palestine. Palestinians were baffled when Tanya Habjouqa first explained her photographic project to them. “They felt a political obligation to talk about their suffering,” she says. “They were startled when I asked about pleasure. They would slowly ask, ‘Pleasure? We don’t usually discuss pleasure.’ While my pictures may seem light and easy, I had to foster their trust to convince them I was not working to show that things were actually ‘hunky-dory’ under occupation.” Although it shows everyday lives in often ironic juxtapositions, Habjouqa’s work is not intended to normalise the occupation, as some critics have suggested. Instead, it shows everyday resilience. “It is one of the most covered and scrutinised stories in the world. Many journalists have a timid paranoia when they portray this reality, trying to report this occupation in a supposedly balanced way that actually distorts the lived reality.” -- source link