With her unique perspective, she has mapped the physical and psychological boundaries that have defined Palestinian life during the occupation and up to the watershed on October 7, when Gaza was hermetically closed to journalists from outside. The exhibition, which has been named ” Birds Unaccustomed to Gravity “, also includes photos taken on the West Bank at the end of November 2023.
On March 16, Habjouqa opens its first solo exhibition in Norway. Here we see excerpts from both ” Occupied Pleasures ” and the ongoing series ” Birds Unaccustomed to Gravity “, which in different ways tell about the losses and victories that characterize Palestinian lives at all times, both crushing confrontations and microscopic liberations.
In connection with the opening weekend, Fotografihuset – in collaboration with Preus museum and OsloMet – invites you to the seminar “Images from Gaza: The Politics of Representation”.
– It is said that the first victim of war is the truth. But not only the fall of truth, but also the fall of ideals should worry us, wrote Arne Johan Vetlesen in Klassekampen on 9 December 2023. Now the philosophy professor is taking part in a panel discussion during the afternoon seminar.
In addition to contributions from Tanya Habjouqa and philosopher Arne Johan Vetlesen, there will be a dialogue between these two and, among others, professor at the Department of Journalism and Media Studies at Oslomet and head of the research group MEKK (Media in War and Conflict) Kristin Skare Orgeret; head of the Department of Journalism and Media Studies at OsloMet, researcher and non-fiction author Anne Hege Simonsen; head of the Palestine Committee Line Khateeb, sociologist and senior political adviser at Redd Barna Ewa Sapiezynska and photo editor at VG Espen Rasmussen.
The first part of the seminar will deal with the visualization of the war in editor-controlled and social media.
The second part discusses which contemporary and historical forces influence both the mass media and public opinion, the gap between popular involvement and media flow, increasing cancellations, censorship and self-censorship; and double standards in foreign policy – both in Norway and internationally.
ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Tanya Habjouqa (1975, Jordan/USA) is an award-winning journalist, filmmaker, anthropologist and camera-based artist. She is an innovative narrative voice known for work grounded in ethics and work that explores identity politics, occupation and subcultures in the Levant.
She has an MA in Global Media. with an emphasis on Middle Eastern politics, and is concerned with, among other things, gender, representations of difference, and human rights. After nearly 20 years of practice, Habjouqa has become a leading voice in the development of documentary work. In 2015, she published the ground-breaking book Occupied Pleasures, and co-founded Rawiya, the first female photography collective from the Middle East. Her work is in the collections of the MFA Boston, the Institut du Monde Arabe, and the Carnegie Museum of Art.
Tanya’s work has been published in Foreign Policy, Le Monde, British Journal of Photography, Repubblica, Io Donna, Guardian, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Wall Street Journal, The Economist, New Republic, New York Times Lens Blog, Monocle, COURRiER Japon, Al Jazeera, National, Washington Post, New York Times, Time Lightbox, Boston Globe and CNN, and she has worked with Riwaq, National, and Bloomberg.
She is a Nikon Europe Ambassador and advisor and teacher for the NOOR Foundation and the Nikon NOOR academy, and in 2014 won an award at World Press Photo. Habjouqa is represented by the East Wing Gallery.
